Two children aged 3 and 5 and their parents died when being poisoned by carbon monoxide in their house. The family from Niscani village of Calarasi district was discovered by neighbors on February 25.
Press officer of the Civil Protection and Emergencies Service Diana Turcan has told IPN that it was preliminarily established that the two children and their parents died as a result of insufficiency of oxygen in the room. The carbon monoxide was emitted by the faulty boiler. The firemen determined that the heating vents were blocked and no window was open.
In this connection, the firefighters warn the people to use the services of specialists when they want to purchase and install a boiler in the home. A specialist can tell them how to correctly use a boiler. “The hearing and air vents must be no way blocked as this can lead to emergencies with fatal consequences,” stated Diana Turcan.
When noticing changes in the work of the boiler, such a strange sounds and insufficiency of oxygen, the people should call the emergency services or a specialist as the system can be malfunctioning.
According to firemen, the gas installations, heating stoves and electrical appliances must be used by obeying the security and anti-fire rules. The stove must not be overheated, while the building must be aired when fire is burning in the stove or the fireplace or an electrical heating device works. The emergency services must be called if one has headaches and dizziness and suspects a carbon monoxide emission.
More information about how a home can be protected from dangers and how the child can be protected is available at www.parinti.md and within the activities carried out as part of the campaigns to prevent accidents involving children within the Moldvan-Swiss project “Regionalization of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Services in the Republic of Moldova” (REPEMOL). The REPEMOL project is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and is implemented by the Center for Health Policies and Services.
REPEMOL also provides a short film about how the parents can protect their children from carbon monoxide poisoning. The video clip can be seen here.