Using air conditioning (AC) while driving a car is a very common thing. But in some special circumstances, using AC can prove to be fatal. The latest case was seen in Dehradun. Where a man and a woman were found dead in a parked car. It is being told that both were sleeping with the AC on in the car parked on the roadside and they died due to AC gas and temperature.
What is the matter:
This incident is from Rajpur area of Dehradun. Police received information through control room that a Wagon R is parked on Nagal Wali Road of Dehradun, in which a woman and a man are lying unconscious. When police reached the spot after getting the information, both the man and the woman were lying dead. Initial investigation revealed that both of them used to consume alcohol often. The ignition of the car was on at the time of the incident. Probably, due to the AC of the car being on continuously at night, both died due to the effect of gas and temperature. Police has taken both the bodies in its custody and sent them for post-mortem.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened:
This is not the first time such an incident has come to light. A similar case came to light in Ghaziabad in June this year. At that time, a 36-year-old cab driver was found dead in his WagonR car near a traffic signal in Prahlad Garhi. Police said that cab driver Kallu Dubey, a resident of Sahibabad, died of suffocation. He fell asleep in his car with the AC on while in an inebriated state. Due to the AC being on all night, the cabin got filled with gas, which caused the cab driver’s death due to suffocation.
A similar incident happened in Noida in the year 2020. During that time also, a 30-year-old man in a drunken state parked his car in the basement parking and slept with the AC on. In this case too, the police said that the cause of death was the gas and temperature inside the car. Apart from this, a similar incident happened in Chennai as well.
Why does one die if one sleeps with the AC on?
It is usually seen that most people sleep after parking their car and switching on the air conditioner. People keep all the windows closed due to the AC running. In such a situation, it is normal for gas to accumulate in the cabin of the car. But the biggest question is how does this deadly gas enter the cabin. The poisonous gases emitted from the engine of the car, mainly carbon monoxide, can cause suffocation in the people sitting in the car. This gas enters the cabin of the vehicle through the AC vent.
If the person sitting in the car is asleep, he does not even realize and carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in your blood. Due to which the person slowly dies due to ‘suffocation’. Experts say that when a person’s body is filled with a large amount of carbon monoxide, it can cause rapid death, because oxygen suddenly disappears from the blood cells.
Experts say that every cell in the body needs oxygen to function. When a person comes in contact with carbon monoxide, the oxygen present in hemoglobin turns into carboxyhemoglobin which renders the cells useless and stops the functioning of tissues. This condition is known as hypoxia which can cause a person to have severe headache, dizziness and confusion.
But these effects will be visible only when the person is awake and conscious. If such a situation arises, he can quickly get out of the car and escape death. But, when he is sleeping or under the influence of alcohol, he does not realize that a silent poison is entering his body which can give him a silent death.
Combo of addiction and AC:
Drinking and driving is always dangerous, it increases the chances of accidents. It is completely illegal and there is a provision of heavy penalty and punishment for it. But sleeping in a drunken state with the car windows closed and the AC on is no less dangerous. It has been seen many times that people fall asleep in the car in a drunken state. Due to the fear of some mishap or theft of the goods kept in the car, people close the car windows completely. This is the horrific situation when carbon monoxide entering the car cabin through the AC vents causes death.
How to prevent this:
First of all, know that sleeping in a parked car is not safe under any circumstances. But if an emergency situation arises and you have to sleep in the car, do not close the car window completely. So that the gas in the car cabin keeps coming out and oxygen keeps coming in. Never sleep in a car in a drunken state, because this is the most dangerous situation. In most cases, it has been seen that people have died in a drunken state. If they were conscious, they could have woken up in a state of suffocation, which could have saved their life.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)