Accident from suffocation - Sudden death

Experts warn that gas produced from explosive machines in enclosed spaces is extremely dangerous, can cause death. Many accidents from gas asphyxia have occurred.

Dr. Pham Due, Director of the Center for Anti-Poisoning, Bach Mai Hospital said that the generator operates in an extremely closed room environment. It will burn anaerobic, produce toxic gas as CO, quickly occupy oxygen, inhale will cause suffocation. This is a form of asphyxia, systemic asphyxia, very difficult to cure. These cases, if not timely emergency, for long-term brain hypoxia leading to coma, death, saving will also live the plant life due to brain damage.

According to Dr. Due, the Anti-Poison Center once received coma cases due to gas suffers when using generators at home. Once there was a patient in Hanoi who went to the basement to fill up the gasoline for an active generator in the summer of the power outage, he was suffocated at the spot, luckily discovered by the family members and taken to the emergency room.

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In addition to gas asphyxiation due to generators, every year, the Center of poison control also receives many patients suffocating due to heating by coal stove or wood stove in closed room.

Analysis of cases of coma, death when in a closed room running a generator , Associate Professor Tran Hong Con, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Natural Sciences, Hanoi National University said, Thu The main offense causes this condition in addition to CO, there is also CO2. Dr. Con explained, in a closed room, when a diesel engine is used as a generator, how much fuel will generate much CO2. If the engine is not good, the amount of gas generated is greater.

"CO ₂ gas is odorless, tasteless, does not cause pain but will quickly cause suffocation. People who inhale a lot of CO2 will be shocked by lack of oxygen, they will die passively because as soon as they feel suffocated, tired then So these people will not have the usual reflexes of seeing asphyxia running out , " he said.

This is precisely the Associate Professor Con met many years ago with the case of well-digging workers. The worker when digging a well, down to a certain depth - where the soil has a lot of leaf humus - a high amount of CO ₂ escapes them quickly into a coma. Some people on the ground felt so badly that they went to rescue but also lost consciousness and all died.

According to Mr. Con, death from asphyxiation of CO2 is an unannounced death so it is very dangerous, the victim has no time to protest.

In the case of a closed room running a generator, the victim can still die from CO gas asphyxia. The CO source is formed due to incomplete combustion. CO vapor is a slightly odorless, colorless, toxic substance for the blood and has the effect of suffocating. When inhaled, CO will steal the oxygen loss of hemoglobin in the blood, making the red blood cells remain active but not oxygen, causing the victim to quickly become lethargic and die. When CO suffers gas, the victim also passively reflexes almost asphyxiated CO ₂ . The autopsy can see if the victim died of CO asphyxiation, the skin was purple, and the CO ₂ asphyxiation was the skin.

Associate Professor Tran Hong Con warns, when burning any fuel, whether coal, oil, gas . absolutely not in a closed space, must be ventilated to avoid the risk of suffocation.

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