A three man crew of a Rosa Minibus belonging to a Lusaka businessman was early this morning found dead in their bus.
The three are believed to have suffocated to death in the vehicle after sleeping
with a charcoal blazier in Kalomo.
Both police and ZANIS who rushed to the scene found the deceased three in the
minibus registration number ABJ 9255 along the Great North Road, 25 kilometres north
of Kalomo township.
The crew had a breakdown for two days along the road lay by until they met their fate.
The minibus fleet number LSK 6451 belongs to a Mr. C. Mutambo of Lusaka.
And police has only identified one of the deceased as Obert Phiri, 22, of plot
number 25/20 of Emasdale Township of Lusaka while the other one was only identified
as Kakumbi.
The third deceased man among the crew has not yet been identified by press time.
The bodies of the trio have since been picked by police and are lying in Kalomo
district hospital, awaiting burial.
MTSRIP
this is carbon monoxide poisoning.CO has a higher binding affinity to haemoglobin than oxygen.Its an odourless gas and victims usually get drowsy and sleep to their death.Treatment would be removing the patient from the that enviroment and administering 100% oxygen.To the public please do not use imbawulas in an enclosed enviroment.
You do not administer 100% Oxygen unless you want to induce Oxygen intoxication.What is recommended is 60% in a humdifier.
First of all condolences to the families of the deceased.
Secondly I guess the take home point for the general public is avoid using charcoal braizers (mbaulas!) in an enclosed environment as dr. abc put it!
But thirdly if we are considering management here, actually both of you are right to some extent (dr. abc & dr L.) – between 60 -90% O2 can be used in milder cases. But 100% is preferred in Acutely severe cases (such as would have been the case here with them being confused, unconcious or comatose!) and the only question at 100% O2 is whether it should be of Normobaric or Hyperbaric flow (an arguement that still rages on to date!)!
Considering that the CO has largely displaced the O2 on the Hb (which is O2 main transport carrier), I guess O2 toxicity is of less concern until you get near normal O2 levels binding to the Hb!
BUT take home point again – Mbaulas can kill, so best used where there is proper ventilation!
Originating problem,look after your employees properly,let them booked in hotels or geust house.Maximising profits has its own down time effects.
Labour unions where are you?
These Drs are a bore. where does one get oxygen at a road layby, let alone humidifiers? Simply remove the victim to fresh air, chapwa.
malaika you are right also and obviously thats what the lay people around should do.However,the paramedics on the scene should administer 0xygen.Dr M I would prefer a hyperbaric flow especially if the patient is comatose.What is the argument for normobaric administration?
#5,gk. you are offside my brother.
This accident has nothing to do with the Govt or the Labour Union. You are being unrealistic brother gk.
What you must do is to advice the public to always exercise COMMON SENSE. And the beauty of life is that Common Sense is FREE!!! It just needs to be exercised!!
How can 3 MEN (not boys) light a charcoal blazier in a vehicle? Before we even get to the issue of suffocation, one would expect that these people would fear that the vehicle would catch fire and they would be burnt. As if that is not enough, the 3 MEN (not boys) go ahead to even close the windows?
We may be not sure of the exact cirmstances but from the look of things,this accident is the result of PURE FOOLISHNESS by the 3 MEN. They signed their own death certificate. A little common sence would have made a difference!!
This must serve as a lesson to us all. A wise man learns from the mistakes of the foolish.
Having said that, i wish to state that we have all been foolish at one time or another. However, we must seek to learn from simple things around us. Let him who has an ear hear and learn simple wisdom.
My heart goes to the families of these 3 men.
#8, Born Rich, maybe common sense is not so common after all! I mean, how else can three grown ups act the way that they did? The dangers of CO from charcoal have been talked about for centuries. Which part of Zambia did they grow up? I don’t want to think that this was the first time they were using a brazzier (mbaula).
#2-4, interesting insight. But did #2 & 3 have to wash their linen in public (FTJ would say ‘dirty linen’). I’m wondering what would happen if the two of you were at the accident site!
MK, I dont see anything contradictory, let alone worth being called washing linen in public, about what 2&3 are saying. I think our medical colleagues are expressing a divergent of options that could only be settled after seeing the condition of the victims. Medicine is not an exact science!
Iwe Terri don’t just support for the sake of it.A lot of patients have died in hospitals because of wrong prescriptions by doctors.So let them not argue here on the blog.
Now now, could we leave such specialized subjects to the experts, though some have jumped into the foray without even researching the subject or even brushing up their knowledge on the subject.
Fire inhalational injuries in an enclosed space are composed of three main problems,
1] Heat inhalation – burns to the airway( not applicable here)
2] Carbon Monoxide(CO) poisoning – main problem in this case
3] Poisoning secondary to other fumes such as cyanide, which is let offer by things such as furnishing in a house fire, actually more deadly than CO poisoning.
Oxygen(O2)therapy – recommended to all burns victims.
In CO poisoning – to allow maximum O2 uptake by increasing the dissolved & hence partial pressure responsible for delivering to tissues. CO has higher affinity than O2 for Hb, so poorly displaces CO. Hyperbaric O2(HybO2) utilises principal above becoz of pressure.Problem of HybO2 is logistics, even in developed countries. O2 poisoning is the least of..cont
cont.. of your worries, as your CO poisoned pt will died before he suffers from this, which only ensues after prolonged O2 therapy, & to which newborns are more prone to than adults. COHb levels need to be higher than 25% or more b4 you require HybO2, thus anything less, give 100% O2, CO levelsactually fall faster than one may think, max 4hrs, you can then reduce levels you are administering, thus avoiding O2 toxicity!
#12 I dont understand your point, I thought i just implied in clear terms that doctors do make errors during their medical practice. There’s no sane doctor who’s gonna give a precise prescription on your blog without seeing the patient. But doctors like all professionals can disagree, its normal.
You read but obviously didnt understand my point.