Epress.am News from Armenia
Russia’s Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development is sending Russian doctors to Turkey to examine the condition of Russian national Victoria Nikolaeva, 23 (pictured). The head physician of a hospital in Turkey’s Mediterranean city of Antalya announced Nikolaeva’s brain death (believed to have been caused by alcohol poisoning), adding that she would be kept in intensive care until her heart stops, the Tropical Medical Bureau reported, citing Anatolia news agency.
Doctors say Nikolaeva is on the brink of death: brain activity has ceased, while her heart is pumping only due to special equipment. Other experts, however, believe that the young girl has, albeit slight, chances of being resuscitated. Nevertheless, Turkish laws, reports Itar-Tass news agency, prevent doctors from shutting off the machine keeping her alive.
Note, a handful of Russian tourists have died in the past few weeks following a mass outbreak of poisoning among guides believed to have drunk counterfeit alcohol on a yachting trip in Turkey, Anatolia news agency said. A probe has resulted in the discovery of high doses of methanol, commonly used to mix bootleg alcohol, in blood samples from the victims and the seizure of some 200 bottles of counterfeit drinks on vessels operated by the same yachting company, according to media reports. Four Turks involved in the yachting company and the firm that supplied the drinks have been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation. The incident sounded alarm in Turkey’s flourishing tourism sector, a vital source of income, just as the summer season was taking off.
At the same time, Turkish national Sezgin Ergen, 49, who is in the same hospital as Nikolaeva, has asked to have Nikolaeva’s face if she dies. Ergen, who shot herself in the head during a botched suicide bid, wants Nikolaeva’s parents to make a transplant donation, reports Mirror.co.uk.
She said, “I thought she could bring me a new life.”
Ergen has had 60 reconstructive operations since her suicide attempt 18 years ago.