4 people in a family working as fish steamers died from suffocation from hydrogen sulfide gas

Master, Doctor Doan Uyen Vy, in charge of the Anti-Poison Clinic, Cho Ray Hospital, affirmed: The hypothesis that the family of 4 people working in the fish steaming business in Thu Duc city died of CO poisoning is inappropriate and unconvincing, because at the scene where the victims died, there was no source of burning charcoal to produce CO gas. Thus, there must have been another toxic gas that caused the victims to die quickly and without resistance and die en masse.

Accordingly, Dr. Doan Uyen Vy analyzed: Clinically, when admitted to Thu Duc Hospital, the female victim had a very severe metabolic acidosis, cardiac arrest, and rapid respiratory arrest; and the 3 people who died before arriving at Thu Duc Hospital had lips and skin that still looked pink as if they were sleeping normally. The cause of death in these 3 cases was recorded as acute pulmonary edema.

“All of these clinical manifestations are consistent with the source of H2S gas poisoning, because H2S gas inhibits cellular respiration and the "knockdown" death pattern of the four victims is consistent with H2S poisoning,” Dr. Vy concluded.

Doctor Uyen Vy said that the victim's family likely stored a lot of sea fish in the house, which would have caused the fish to rot without them knowing (from the fish's intestines, fish scales, fish meat, old fish). These types of fish meat or animal carcasses in general, when rotting, will give off an unpleasant, fishy smell; this stench is H2S, which is also a deadly toxic gas when inhaled in large quantities.

“When cooking or steaming spoiled fish, a large amount of H2S gas will evaporate. At first, you may still smell it, but when H2S is at a high concentration, it will paralyze the sense of smell so you can no longer smell anything in the room. At that time, the victim may faint and die,” said Dr. Uyen Vy.

According to Dr. Vy, there have been many cases of multiple deaths at the same time when entering the fish hold of a fishing boat, cleaning the wastewater hold of a fish sauce production facility, dredging sewers or pouring strong acid down sewers, going down biogas tanks... These are characteristics of H2S gas poisoning situations.

When a victim dies suddenly in a closed room lacking oxygen, the cause of death is due to suffocation due to lack of oxygen or due to toxic fumes or gases. Toxic fumes inhibit cellular respiration, causing cardiovascular collapse, cardiac arrest, and rapid respiratory arrest. Toxic gases that inhibit cellular respiration include hydrogen cyanide gas (cyanure, HCN, arsine gas (AsH3), borane gas (BH3), and hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) (a foul odor).

Doctor Doan Uyen Vy recommends that people do not dump dead fish, shrimp, and crabs into sewers or toilets; do not pour strong acids into sewers or toilets in large quantities because it will cause dead animals in the sewers to produce a lot of H2S gas and evaporate strongly, which can enter the house through the sewers; do not cook rotten shrimp, crabs, and fish in a closed room with air conditioning, which is cramped, causing the H2S gas emitted from the rotten fish to accumulate throughout the closed room.

In addition, in an environment with H2S gas, metal objects such as coins, keys, etc. can turn black, which is a sign of H2S gas.

It is known that on the morning of May 18, at a rented room on Street No. 6, Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward, Thu Duc City, people discovered a family of 4 in an accident. However, when taken to Thu Duc City Hospital for emergency treatment, 3 people (including Mr. K., his wife and son) had died, while the daughter was in a deep coma, with unstable vital signs, low blood pressure, brain damage, diffuse cerebral edema, liver damage, kidney damage... so she was transferred to Cho Ray Hospital for emergency treatment. However, the daughter's condition was so severe that she did not survive despite the doctors' intensive resuscitation.

According to Tin Tuc newspaper