Four waiters of a catering firm, hired for organising a New Year’s party, died of suspected asphyxiation at a house in Mohali on Tuesday night.
The deceased have been identified as Dharam Singh (22), a resident of Kaimbwala village, Amit Kumar (20), and Rajnish Kumar (17), both residents Kansal village and Dwarka Prashad (33), a resident of Mauli Jagran. All victims hailed from Uttar Pradesh and worked as waiters on a contractual basis.
The police arrived at the spot after receiving information. In a statement, the police said that the incident took place at a house in sector 69. After the celebration, the workers chose to stay back in a room in the house. Owing to bitter cold, around 5 am, the waiters took “angithi” (burning coal) inside their room and closed the door.
Inspector Shivdeep Singh, SHO of the Phase VIII police station stated that it is suspected that the waiter might have died because of inhaling carbon monoxide. He confirmed that the victims, in a CCTV footage, were seen carrying “angithi” into their room. He also mentioned that the kins of the victims did not blame anyone for the incident.
Singh said that the bodies of the deceased have been placed at the mortuary for post mortem exercise.
Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning occurs when a person inhales fume CO. Oxygen, that helps in combustion, begins to deplete if fuel is burnt in closed space, generating alarming levels of CO due to partial combustion.
Our body’s red blood cells (RBCs) that carry oxygen to various cells have more affinity towards CO than oxygen. If the amount of CO increases in the air then RBCs start to pick up CO instead of oxygen and form carboxyhemoglobin. This prevents the delivery of oxygen to our body cells and organs ultimately leading to death.
