Seven killed by gas poisoning in Armenia

04/01/2006
Evening Echo

Gas leaks and faulty heating stoves fatally poisoned at least seven people and injured another nine over the New Year holiday in Armenia, an emergency official said today.

Six of the dead came from one family who apparently were overcome by carbon monoxide on December 31 in Gyumri, Armenia’s second-largest city, said Nikolai Grigorian, an emergency service spokesman.

The incidents involving the nine injured were scattered around the country, he said.

Many people in the ex-Soviet republic use makeshift stoves and home-made gas heaters, sometimes tapping illegally into gas lines, because their homes lack heaters, which are expensive.

Last year, 18 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning nationwide and 104 people were seriously injured, according to emergency officials.

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