LAHORE: When 23-year-old Irtiza Ali, a resident of Lahore, went on a trip to Malam Jabba with his cousins and uncle, he had no inkling that he would never return alive. It had taken a lot of convincing for Irtiza to even agree to going on the trip, as he was studying for his upcoming CSS exams. But soon, he was packing his bags.

“We reached Malam Jabba in the afternoon, booked a room at the Green Palace Hotel and went out for hiking,” says Irtiza’s maternal uncle, Munir Ahmed, who was on the trip as well.

The next morning, something shocking happened.

“One of the children went to take a shower and came out complaining of dizziness,” recounts Mr Ahmed. “Then someone else went and then it was my turn. As I began washing my hair, I felt as if the ground was slipping away.”

They had no clue what was happening. It was Irtiza’s turn next. When he did not come out after some time, they knocked at the door and called him out repeatedly, but there was no answer. “I instantly called the hotel management and we tried knocking the door down. He must have been inside for around half an hour.”

23-year-old among many reported dying from leakage of gas from such geysers

Once they broke the door, they found Irtiza lying on the floor, unconscious, barely breathing. They rushed him to a doctor. But as if things were not chaotic enough, they could not find a single medical practitioner around.

“At least five kilometres down from Malam Jabba, we found a doctor only to be told he was just a compounder. Going further below, another doctor asked us to take the boy to a hospital in Mingora. My nephew was breathing and was warm throughout the journey, but as we entered the hospital, he went cold. The doctors conducted an ECG and pronounced him dead.”

Similarly, in a video found on social media, a man can be seen saying his young niece was found dead in the washroom due to the same reason; they had installed an instant geyser inside the washroom, while it should always be fixed outside. Same was the case with Malam Jabba’s Green Palace Hotel.

Every time a water tap is turned on, the geyser releases gas that gathers inside a washroom. “When we talked about this with other people, we found out about several similar cases,” said the man in the video.

Carbon monoxide, an odourless and colourless gas, acts fast. Since it is dense, it does not rise, staying at breathing levels. In winters, hundreds of cases of gas poisoning are reported, especially in state hospitals in the northern areas as well as Islamabad and Rawalpindi. These are mainly caused by gas leakage from instant geysers. Several cases of paralysis have also been reported.

In most cases, instant gas geysers are connected to liquefied petroleum gas cylinders and the gas inside is a combination of butane and propane. Usually on combustion, it produces carbon dioxide and water. But when fixed inside a small bathroom, with little oxygen, it results in the release of carbon monoxide, which results in lack of oxygen supply to the body.

Altering the temperature frequently while the geyser is on can lead to incomplete combustion, thus emitting poisonous gases that may cause severe poisoning, which may lead to death. Even those who survive face brain damage with what doctors call “irreversible hypoxic ischaemic brain injury”, as published in a letter to the editor in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association.

“It is appalling that there was absolutely no dispensary in the area or any kind of first aid facility at the hotel,” says Bilal Sheikh, an acquaintance of the family. “It is one of the most visited points and the government is also trying to promote tourism, but there are no emergency services at any level. Nor is there any check and balance.”

“There is lack of awareness on the part of the sellers, buyers and even the plumbers who install these geysers. They do not know that they should not fix them inside an unventilated room,” adds Bilal.

“We could have filed a police case,” says Irtiza’s uncle, Ahmed. “But we left the decision to our sister, Irtiza’s mother. All she wanted was her son brought to her.” She blatantly told them that filing a report would not bring him back.

“We faced a major loss,” says Ahmed. “But if this is not stopped, such losses will continue.”

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2019