Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: warning from the authorities after a series of carbon monoxide poisonings

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ROMAIN LONGIERAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 17:20 p.m., December 27, 2023

Seventeen people were poisoned by carbon monoxide on Tuesday evening in Haute-Savoie and Ardèche, eight of whom were hospitalized, despite the authorities' warning for the holiday season, firefighters and a prefectural source said on Wednesday.

"Malfunction" of a gas boiler

It was in Haute-Savoie that the most serious cases were taken care of after the "malfunction" of a gas boiler in a home, firefighters told AFP. In Annecy, at around 23:30 p.m., emergency services intervened with six people in an apartment located north of the city center, the state of health of four of them requiring hospitalization, they said, confirming a report by the regional daily Le Dauphiné Libéré.

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Three victims, two men and a woman, were rushed to the Geneva hospital, which is equipped with chambers to treat the most serious cases. Another man, whose condition was less worrying, was hospitalized in Annecy, according to the same source.

An "imperceptible, colourless, odourless and non-irritating toxic gas"

Earlier, in Ardèche, eleven people, "friends and family" were taken care of after being intoxicated to varying degrees, we learned from the prefecture of the department. The accident occurred around 19:30 p.m. in the village of Saint-Marcel-lès-Annonay, located in the north of the department, when the victims "were gathered in a garage preparing homemade charcuterie." Among them are a five-year-old child, four women and six men. Among the adults, one woman and three men were transferred to the hospital in Annonay "for nausea and headaches".

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The origin of the accident "could be linked to the use of an old gas stove and the lack of ventilation", the prefecture continued, adding that a gendarmerie investigation "was underway". The latter also recalled on X (formerly Twitter) the symptoms and risks related to carbon monoxide, an "imperceptible, colourless, odourless and non-irritating toxic gas", and recommended to call the emergency services immediately "in case of suspicion" of poisoning.

Earlier, on December 18, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes had done the same on the social network, recalling that "every year in France, nearly 5,000 people (were) exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning" of which "a hundred die"