Carbon monoxide from water pipes poisoned several people in refugee housing

Several people in refugee housing are poisoned by water pipes
Experts repeatedly warn against the dangers of carbon monoxide. The odorless and tasteless gas causes hundreds of deaths every year in Germany. How dangerous carbon monoxide can be, now had several people in a refugee shelter experience. They poisoned themselves with hookah smoking.

Health hazards due to carbon monoxide
Experts repeatedly warn against underestimating the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO). The odorless, tasteless and flammable gas is produced, for example, when materials such as wood, coal or gas burn without sufficient oxygen, for example in closed rooms or in defective gas heating systems. What is unknown to many: Shisha smoking also risks carbon monoxide poisoning. Several people in refugee accommodation in North Rhine-Westphalia have now experienced this firsthand.

In a refugee shelter in North Rhine-Westphalia, several residents have been poisoned by the exhaust fumes of two hookahs in an unventilated room. (Image: Roman Ribaliov / fotolia.com)

Pure coincidence has prevented worse
Apparently pure coincidence has prevented worse: As reported by the news agency dpa, several residents of a refugee shelter in Harsewinkel near Gütersloh (North Rhine-Westphalia) have been poisoned by the exhaust fumes of two hookahs in an unventilated room.

According to the information, the symptoms had only been recognized because rescue workers who had come to the property because of injuries to their hands by another resident had rejected the measuring equipment because of the high concentration of carbon monoxide.

The affected persons - four men and three women - were rushed to the hospital on the night of Sunday.

Hundreds dead by the odorless gas
Especially in confined spaces and higher concentrations, carbon monoxide can cause poisoning. Since the chemical compound is odorless, sufferers usually do not notice that they have inhaled the gas.

With a poisoning it comes to complaints such as headache, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, nausea and unconsciousness up to the death by suffocation.

Every year, hundreds of people in Germany die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Only recently did six adolescents in Bavaria die from carbon monoxide poisoning. (Ad)