Tuesday, December 24 in the evening, mass is underway in a church in Carlepont (Oise) when several people start to complain of headaches. The ceremony was interrupted by the arrival of emergency services following collective carbon monoxide poisoning, reveals an AFP dispatch taken up by Le Figaro.
After taking care of 72 people, the firefighters realized that the carbon monoxide amounted to 350 parts per million air molecules. Of the 150 people present, only 19 were classified as “relative emergency”, but two others are more seriously affected.
An investigation is underway to determine if this incident is due to negligence or malfunction. The poisoning could have been caused by an old gas boiler.
Prevention of carbon monoxide
This news item is an opportunity to remind people of the dangers of carbon monoxide. It is a gas which escapes systematically when there is combustion, but which is neither colored nor odorous. It gradually replaces the oxygen present in the blood when inhaled and becomes toxic to the organs. Each year, the gas causes 4,000 poisonings and leads to a hundred deaths, underlines Public Health France. Support must be immediate.
To avoid being exposed to it, certain rules must be observed. Check and maintain your heating installations every year, ventilate your home for at least 10 minutes a day and limit the use of auxiliary heaters.
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