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Search forCouple tell of poison gas ordeal
Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 07:30
Claire Allinson, her five-month-old son, Matthew, and partner Chris Tunstall were among 11 tenants evacuated from Pride Park Lodge, in Chaddesden, yesterday.
Firefighters said readings for carbon monoxide in the building were “very high.”
But experts are baffled about the cause because there is no gas supply to the flats, which were built two years ago.
A specialist from Oxford, who was drafted in last night to try to locate the problem, discovered that the gas was permeating up from pipes underneath the shower tray of Miss Allinson and Mr Tunstall’s flat from the drainage system underground.
But she could not find the source so a specialist drain company is being brought in to investigate further.
Paramedics, police, environmental health officers from Derby City Council and engineers from the National Grid were all called to Meadow Lane at 5.30am – on the first day of Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week.
Mr Tunstall, 23, said the couple could not smell anything in their apartment but were told by doctors that they were suffering from poisoning by carbon monoxide, which is an odourless gas.
He said: “Matthew only needed to be given oxygen.
“It was a very scary situation to be in. We are lucky to be alive, really.”
Miss Allinson, 21, raised the alarm and, along with the rest of her family, was taken to Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.
She said: “At about 11pm on Sunday, I started to feel dizzy and had a terrible headache, so I decided to go to bed in the hope I would wake up feeling better.
“At about 2am the next morning, I woke up and fainted, so my partner called an ambulance, but I decided not to go to hospital and just go to the doctor’s in the morning.
“But at 4am I woke up again and fainted and then was sick, so we called an ambulance. When the paramedics arrived, my partner passed out too.
“It was so scary. I could feel my heart beating so fast. We are lucky that we woke up when we did, as I hate to think what could have happened.”
Miss Allinson, Mr Tunstall and Matthew, who remained conscious throughout, were admitted to hospital while doctors carried out blood tests and gave them oxygen. No-one else living at the flats needed hospital treatment.
Peter Janes, crew manager from Ascot Drive fire station, said carbon monoxide readings were “very high” and firefighters had to put on breathing apparatus before entering the building.
He said: “There was carbon monoxide in the whole building but it was confined to mainly three flats.”
Surveyor Steve Naylor, who owns the flats, said all the relevant land searches were carried out before they were built and nothing was flagged up as a potential problem.
Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless, tasteless gas that is usually produced by burning fuels such as gas, oil, wood and coal.
When it enters the body, it prevents the blood from bringing oxygen to cells, tissues and organs and can kill quickly without warning.
The council has provided temporary accommodation for one person, Derby Homes has found a home for another and the rest of the tenants are staying with family and friends.
IMS Lettings, in Pride Park, manages the flats on behalf of the landlord.
A spokesman said the 11 tenants living in the nine flats will not be allowed to return until the source of the leak had been found and dealt with.
lucky ESCAPE: Chris Tunstall and Claire Allinson with their baby, Matthew Tunstall, recovering from their ordeal at a relative's home last night. Inset, a police van outside the flats in Meadow Lane, Chaddesden.
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