Monday, October 30, 2006

Car turns into Gas Chamber



New Delhi : A freak incident in the rain on Saturday has now created new fears of what might happen. A car air conditioner turned into an instrument of death and killed a family of four.

The family was trapped inside a Santro in Faridabad's sector 16. The AC was on and the windows were rolled up. The four died due to suffocation.
During rains if the car AC is left on and there is no ventilation, the car could turn into a gas chamber.

Rain water partially chokes the exhaust pipe and denies a smooth exit for the exhaust fumes. Since the AC had been left on, the exhaust fumes mixed with the air and formed carbon monoxide causing suffocation.

Carbon monoxide is said to be a silent killer as it induces a sleep like state not allowing the person to feel any pain. There were no signs of the occupants frantically trying to open the car doors or windows. The car was still running, when the four were found. The exhaust pipe had submerged leaving no outlet for exhaust fumes.

Auto experts say that the accident was a freak accident and that this is not very common. However, they advise drivers to drive with their windows down during monsoons and without the air conditioner.

Source : CNN-IBN Posted Monday , September 04, 2006 at 22:54

Few months back, I had also read about similar type of incident happened in a car park in Singapore. This incident resulted in death of two, who were inside the car due to the same reason. So this is something that everybody should be aware of. Please forward this message to all your known people.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its called the tryst with the destiny. Its better to have the side-window visors, available for car windows, fixed and keep the glass shutters an inch or two down while driving during rain. The visors wont let rain drops inside the car. This will facilitate air circulation. The latest cars do have a facility to open the boot doors from inside which action should have avoided this unfortunater incident and saved two lives. Ofcourse this method could be tried only if the occupants knew that they are trapped. Best way is to run the vehicle as stated above and avoid AC during idling or wading through excessively water logged roads......-Just a suggestion please

Saravanan said...

Yes, This is a good suggetion too. Sometimes ignorance or unawareness to things causes such accidents.