Fans warned not to dip drunk in the Dnipro
Reuters - Thursday 31 May 2012, 14:22
Euro 2012 fans are being
warned not to get drunk on vodka and go for a dip in the Dnipro,
Ukraine's principal river that runs through the capital, Kiev.
"We've warned all the embassies that fans must not go [river] bathing," Kiev deputy mayor Anatoly Holubchenko was
quoted as saying by Interfax news agency on Thursday.
"They'll drink 300 grams (a third of a litre), jump in and
drown and then we'll be told our beaches aren't safe,"
Holubchenko said. "A drowned drunk and unsafe beaches are two
different things.
"It's a matter of safety, fans going drinking and bathing.
We want to avoid unfortunate things happening," added Anna
Parkhomenko, Holubchenko's spokeswoman.
Ukraine's main river runs through Kiev where five Euro 2012
matches will be played, including the final on July 1. The other
Ukrainian cities staging matches in the tournament, which Poland
is co-hosting, are Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
Kiev residents flock in their hundreds to sandy beaches on
the Dnipro in spring and summer. Every year police report dozens
of drowning deaths of people who relax on the beach with a
bottle of vodka and then go for a dip.