The professional fire department found significantly increased levels of the poisonous gas at the scene of the accident in an apartment building on Onno-Klopp-Gasse, fire department spokesman Jürgen Figerl told APA on Monday. The girl was found unconscious in the bathroom by a worried family member, police said.
The 13-year-old wanted to take a shower in the evening. After about 20 minutes, her relatives became worried, reported police spokesman Markus Dittrich. They checked the bathroom, brought the girl out of the danger area, alerted the emergency services and began initial resuscitation attempts.
Long-lasting resuscitation attempts
The Vienna Fire Department continued the resuscitation efforts. “At the same time, the rooms were ventilated, also with the help of a high-performance fan, and the neighboring apartments were checked.” However, neighbors were not affected, said Figerl. The Vienna Fire Service took over the young patient. Overall, the resuscitation attempts continued intensively “over a longer period of time,” but any help came too late for the 13-year-old.
According to initial findings by the professional fire department’s chimney sweeps, the accident was triggered “by the operation of the room-air-dependent gas boiler” in the bathroom – there was a significant backflow in the exhaust system, explained the fire department spokesman. “As a result, the carbon monoxide could not escape sufficiently.” “A dangerous concentration” of CO had accumulated in the apartment.
Mobile air conditioning units in the home
Mobile air conditioning units had been installed in the apartment, which suck air from the inside to the outside when in use. “This is also fundamentally very dangerous because it can cause exhaust gases to back up,” said Figerl. Whether the units could have made the situation worse in this case is still the subject of investigations.
In total, three people have died from CO poisoning in their homes in Vienna this extremely hot summer, according to data from the professional fire brigade.