Carbon monoxide kills 12 people in one week in Fergana region

The first tragedy occurred on October 25: seven members of the same family died in the village of Chimyon in Fergana district. The second incident was recorded on November 1 in Kokand, where five people fell victim. The spokesperson for the Prosecutor General's Office clarified to Gazeta.uz that this occurred in an apartment of a multi-storey building; three minors were among the dead, and all died at the scene.

The Emergency Situations Department cited gross violations of safety rules in the operation of gas heating appliances as one of the main causes. The agency warned of the danger of old dual-circuit boilers from the German brand Vaillant: according to its data, they had already completed their service life in Germany and were handed over for scrapping. As the department claims, some entrepreneurs illegally imported them into the country under the guise of spare parts, refurbished them crudely, and sold them to citizens as new.

According to the agency, such boilers were delivered without original flue gas exhaust systems, with polyethylene sewer pipes installed in their place instead, which lose their rigidity when heated and can become detached from their mountings. The Emergency Situations Department sees another threat in covering air intake openings with cloth or other items: the gas then does not burn completely, and carbon monoxide accumulates in the room.

The department urged residents to check their heating systems with the help of specialists and to avoid using appliances that lack quality certificates or have been modified on their own. Earlier, the bodies of six people were found in a private house under construction in the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent, and two more were hospitalized in serious condition; an improperly installed boiler was presumed to be the cause.