More Deaths from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Last week I received an email from Asbed Bedrossian, the administrator of the Armenian News Network - Groong, about the recent death of 20-year-old Canadian-Armenian and her Syrian-Armenian relative from gas carbon monoxide poisoning in Yerevan. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first death of an Armenian from the Diaspora under such circumstances here, and just as tragically, dozens of others fall victim to what appear to be needless deaths each year.
For some, the reason is simply poverty, but for others it’s down to poor quality imported heaters and a lack of oversight during installation or inadequate ventilation. Interestingly, the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) touched upon these fatalities, the reason behind them, and the official response in an article, Armenia’s Inert Gas Service, last year.
Anyway, here’s the letter as forwarded to me by Asbed.
This an article about a tragic accident took the life of a young Armenian-Canadian girl, Seda Zarifian, Canadian citizen, and her cousin Vahan, a Syrian citizen, whose bodies were discovered on Friday, December 22 2006, around evening time poisoned by gas.
Her name and last name is SEDA ZARIFIAN, born in Canada 1986.
She was a student in Yerevan Conservatory Institute from Vancouver, BC, living in a rental apartment in Yerevan (on Apovian 21 building).
Seta first visited Armenia in year 2005 with CYMA (Canadian Youth Mission to Armenia) a project sponsored by the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church since 1993. In her hometown she was one of the vibrant and promising members of the choir of St. Vartan Armenian Apostolic Church of BC.
She became student in August of this year with a lot of enthusiasm and dreams. She just celebrated her 20th birth date.
Through this article we request the Yerevan authorities to take this matter very seriously and enforce landlords, when renting units or apartments to foreign students, to furnish the apartments with reliable heating system and other living furniture, accurate and dependable ventilation, fire exits, emergency ladders, smoke and specially gas alarm sensor or devices.
I believe the Yerevan authority must take in consideration the mandatory safety standards as priority, and from now on hold all landlords accountable, for the sake of our students or visitors and avoid in future tragedies like this.
Every human being is valuable individual for us, whether in Armenia or in Diaspora. And everyone must be accountable for her/his unforgivable actions and negligence.
We appreciate if you publish this article in your News Paper.
We all will remember her joyful smile.
God bless Seta’s and Vahan’s souls.
With respect.
A very concerned Armenian.
Interestingly, Ara Manoogian over at Martuni or Bust touched upon the issue of detecting gas leaks a while ago. I’m not an expert on this, but if Ara is correct, a lot of these deaths could be avoided by adding something to the gas let alone proper monitoring of the installation of gas heaters.
If anyone has more information on this, although I’d add I’ve only heard mention of these deaths from Asbed, please post a comment. Certainly, a lot of promises were made even by the President’s Office regarding gas safety, as detailed by the IWPR article.
Energy-starved Armenia is turning to gas, but there are now concerns that the uncontrolled conversion process is costing lives and causing chaos.
[…]
As complaints mounted about the government’s failure to regulate the changeover, President Robert Kocharian announced he would take action. Admitted recently that the rapid pace of the switch to gas use had caught officials, he said, “I have been forced to intervene personally and put things in order, using extreme measures.” It is not yet clear what those measures will entail.
[…]
In the meantime, the rate of accidents almost doubled in 2004. According to Nikolai Grigorian, press secretary at the government department for emergency situations, 29 cases of gas poisoning were recorded in just the first two months of 2005.
[…]
Sardarian said consumers are responsible for many of the accidents because they use cheap, home-fitted appliances without ventilation, all in the name of saving money.
However, Danielian of the prosecutor’s office says there is a more fundamental problem of governmental oversight which is now being looked into.
[…]
“In this sector, as in any other, there should be state officials responsible for monitoring the situation,” he said. “But it is not an easy matter to work out exactly who is responsible for safety in the sector, as the state energy watchdog was abolished in 2000 without a replacement body being put in place…. A state body responsible for coordinated supervision of the gas sector is essential.”
Twenty four criminal investigations into gas-related accidents are now under way. No prosecutions have yet been started.
“No state official will shoulder responsibility for the dozens of deaths,” said teacher Mkrtchian. “But that doesn’t mean they are not to blame. The government is passing the buck. There is nothing surprising about that – it happens all the time here. We ordinary citizens are the ones who suffer.”
The World Bank is now taking an interest in the issue. Gevork Sarkisian, director of the bank’s programme for heating provision in Armenia, said that following talks with the government, his bank has allocated one million US dollars to assist with safety measures in Yerevan.
If these deaths occured, and if others do as well before the winter ends, it would be interesting to know what became of the money the World Bank apparently allocated to the Armenian Government for gas safety in Yerevan.
I have seen many instances where the new gas lines being retrofitted to old apartment building are run outside the wall in kitched, even OVER stoves. The pipes are not single pieces but soldered together (poorly), making leaks even more likely, and deadly.
There is no smell additive to the new gas lines so a resident cannot tell when there is a gas leak. This would make a huge difference in fatalities
This will be a continuing tragedy even as the donors boast that they have given residents gas to replace the old cylinders.
I think this is a major health hazard.
Comment by m.Pierce — December 31, 2006 @ 7:45 pm
Are you sure your gas does not smell? In Georgia recently I could give you the name, address and housenumber of every house with a gas leak I walked past on the way to work - the smell was pretty strong! Why should gas in Armenia be different from that in Georgia? It comes from the same source.
I am also not sure that natural gas poisons people - it is more likely to lead to explosions, especially considering the high rate of smoking in Armenia.
What may have happened in this case is that a gas appliance did not have a proper exhaust for its exit gases, leaking carbon monoxide into the living areas. This does not explode or smell, so people do not realise they are being poisoned. It’s quite a common occurrence, in Europe as well. Nothing can be added to gas to make carbon monoxide ’smellable’. This can only be prevented by having proper rules on the installation of gas appliances - but could they be applied in Armenia? I doubt it very much. It would be better to give all foreign students information about what to look for when looking at possible flats, and an advertising campaign in Armenian media telling Armenians about the risks.
Comment by Beate — January 1, 2007 @ 1:31 am
Right, some good points there Beate, especially about the carbon monoxide. I think we all say “gas” not thinking about what we really mean. Maybe it’s because we consider gas inherently and potentially dangerous, or maybe it’s just because we’re ignorant about carbon monoxide, I don’t know.
Regarding the smell of gas, however, I don’t know as I won’t have a gas heater installed because I just don’t trust them. However, Ara seems to suggest that there is no smell, but as I said, I don’t know. Interesting, however, to have a comment about the situation in Georgia because you also have fatalities there as well.
Of course, there was one very notable casualty, but I guess many Georgians still don’t believe that it truly was an accident. Anyway, what I would be interested in learning is whether you have public safety campaigns in Georgia. Don’t think we have any here, although to be honest, I don’t watch Armenian TV as it’s just too crap.
Comment by Onnik — January 1, 2007 @ 2:38 am
It seems that this type of death is pretty common, why the government hasn’t made some sort mandatory rule for every living space to have some sort of carbon monoxide detectors or other ways to prevent such deaths.
Seta is one of my closest friends here in vancouver, and now she’s gone…
R.I.P.
Comment by dashphire — January 2, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
I really think this problem largely stems from the way gas heaters are installed. If done properly they are entirely safe to use. You can buy these things at most hardware stores throughout Yerevan as well as the duct piping that you need to expel the carbon monoxide from homes. Although setting up these things is not extremely difficult, the problem is how they need to be hooked up. Some apartment buildings offer central chimneys with sometimes hidden outlets in apartments to which the piping can be attached.Or else in some instances the piping can be hermetically attached to windows to get rid of the CO that way. If you do not make the proper hook ups, you are going to get gas poisioning–it’s simple as that and I can’t really fathom blaming anyone else other than people inappropriately installing such units. Also some of these things have carbon monoxide sensors and can detect when poison levels are high, but obviously not all. People simply need to find the right person to install them and shouldn’t do it by themselves if they don’t know what they’re doing–this happens all the time because Armenians think they know everything. Perhaps the ARG-Gasprom gas company or whatever it’s called should do more to ensure people don’t die from gas poisoning by offering free heater hook-ups for example–it would be a good start.
Comment by Christian Garbis — January 2, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
Right, Garo. Which is why these guys are calling for just that. The prosecution of those installing heaters incorrectly. According to the IWPR report a number of people were being prosecuted which indicates that the blame lies in some cases with companies doing the installation.
In the case of the two dead students, however, it lies with the landlords for renting them fatally dangerous accomodation. Indeed, that is what they are calling for. Legislation and mechanisms to ensure that foreign students don’t rent such accomodation in the future. Bascally, those who died in the case DID NOT install the heater.
It is implied that the owner and landlord of the property did or was responsible for getting someone to do it without then checking to see if it had been done correctly. I wonder if a charge of manslaughter is applicable here. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that this letter and this post is precisely about what you say.
Exactly, and the whole point of this post.
Comment by Onnik — January 3, 2007 @ 12:27 am