4 people die after effort to save colleague
From the evening of July 18 to noon on July 19, the Poison Control Center - Bach Mai Hospital, Ninh Binh facility, received emergency care for 8 victims of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) poisoning in an accident that occurred at a pig farm in Thach Quang commune, Thanh Hoa province.
According to information from Bach Mai Hospital, the accident killed a total of 13 people, of which 5 people died at the scene due to H2S gas poisoning, and the remaining 8 people were urgently transferred to Bach Mai Hospital in Ninh Binh for emergency treatment.
The patients are all male, aged 32-46, employees of a pig farming company including Mr. B.V. V and 4 people who came to rescue.
Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen - Director of the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital - said that the accident occurred at a manure water tank with a closed structure, about 2m x 2m x 3m in size, the mouth of the tank is only wider than 1m.
Initially, one worker unfortunately fell into the tank and fainted. Many others successively rushed down to rescue or bent deep into the mouth of the tank to pull the victim up without protective equipment. They quickly became poisoned and fainted immediately afterwards.
Activating red alert to save 8 victims
Among the 8 patients being treated, 2 people directly went down to the pool last, and were bound with seat belts for rescue. However, as soon as they got there, they developed an uncomfortable feeling and quickly lost consciousness, fortunately being pulled up in time and regaining consciousness after a few minutes. The remaining 6 patients participated in pulling the victims from the mouth of the pool.
When admitted to the hospital, the patients were all awake but showed signs of headache, in some cases irritation of the eyes, conjunctival congestion, lactic acidosis and tachycardia. Currently, all are being monitored and treated actively.
According to Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, H2S gas is one of the most dangerous toxic gases, with a toxic mechanism similar to cyanide when it quickly inhibits cell respiration, seriously damaging the central nervous system, cardiovascular system and many other organs.
At low concentrations, H2S has a characteristic rotten egg smell. However, when the concentration increases, this gas will paralyze the olfactory nerve, causing the victim to no longer be able to smell even when in an extremely dangerous environment.
In medicine, high-concentration H2S poisoning in closed spaces is called the'butcher' syndrome in the slaughterhouse. People who inhale toxic gas can faint almost immediately, organs stop working and the risk of death at the scene is very high," Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen said.
He also noted that many people still mistakenly believe that suffocations in biogas digesters, wells or waste tanks are caused by methane gas (CH4). In fact, the fastest cause of death in many cases is H2S gas.
According to experts, this type of gas is often formed during the decomposition of organic matter in closed spaces such as biogas digesters, manure tanks, sewers, wells, trash tanks or fish tanks on ships. Similar accidents still occur annually due to victims being subjective or rushing to rescue people without protective equipment.
Immediately after receiving information about the accident, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Xuan Co - Director of Bach Mai Hospital - directly directed the activation of the "red alert" for the entire hospital at Ninh Binh facility.
Specialized departments of toxicology, emergency resuscitation, infectious diseases, diagnostic imaging and trauma have coordinated consultations right at the hospital bed to comprehensively assess the poisoning situation, and at the same time screen for injuries due to falls and the risk of infection.
Currently, the patient's condition has improved significantly compared to the time they were first admitted to the hospital.
