Investigation launched into embryos found in Urals forest
YEKATERINBURG. July 23 (Interfax) - The Health Ministry of the Sverdlovsk region has launched an inquiry into barrels with human embryos found in a local forest.
The inquiry was ordered by Sverdlovsk Governor Yevgent Kuyvashev.
A special commission headed by the region's Deputy Health Minister Sergei Turkov has left for the scene, the governor's press service reports, quoting Vice Governor Vladimir Vlasov.
"Preliminary conclusions have been made. What was found turned out to be medical biological waste from at least three medical institutions," Vlasov said, the press service reports.
He assumed that an organization charged with biological waste disposal had failed to do what it ought to have done.
Investigators are checking all medical organizations that could be behind the incident.
"The culprits will face administrative or criminal punishment if there are elements of crime," Vlasov said.
Four 50-liter plastic barrels were found in the wood near the Nizhny Tagil-Yekaterinburg railway on Sunday evening. The barrels contained about 50 embryos treated with formaldehyde. Attached to the embryos were tags with names and numbers, possibly of hospital wars.
Investigators are working at the scene. The region's Interior chief Mikhail Borodavkin will personally oversee the investigation.
