A number of 13 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning were registered last year in the area of activity of the Delgaz Grid company and as a result 10 people died and another 22 were on the verge of losing their lives.

The incidents took place in the counties of Sibiu, Mureș, Maramureș, Timiș, Hunedoara, Caraș-Severin and Harghita and had as common denominator the non-observance of some minimum rules in the use of heating sources.

Unfortunately, a similar situation is recorded at the beginning of this year, so far there have been three cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in Arad, Mureș and Sibiu counties, resulting in four victims, the company announced.

The use of the stove for heating the house, leaking connections to the flue gas system of boilers and stoves, clogged chimneys or stove failures (cracked hobs, leaky terracotta stoves) are the main causes of carbon monoxide poisoning.

“The loss of loved ones causes a lot of pain and it is unfortunate that people continue to make mistakes that lead to such tragedies. These can be easily avoided if the preparation for the cold season is done properly, using specialists. We are talking, in particular, about checking and repairing the faults that appear in the heaters, in the chimneys and in the flue ducts,” says Petre Stoian, Deputy General Manager of Delgaz Grid.

Against the background of various defects in heaters or flue gases, carbon monoxide – a suffocating gas, very toxic – accumulates in the room and leads to poisoning.

Delgaz Grid, the distribution company within the E.ON Group, operates a natural gas network of over 23,000 km in 20 counties in the North and West of Romania and an electricity network of almost 81,900 km in six counties in Moldova.