03 February 2005, 13:26 Society

Zhvania was killed by smuggling

Sergey Ivashko Russian criminologists have confirmed the possibility of the death of Zurab Zhvania from a faulty water heater. It turned out that the culprit in the death of the prime minister was the most popular and dangerous smuggled product in Tbilisi.

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania could actually die from carbon monoxide poisoning. As experts from the Russian Center for Forensic Medicine told Gazeta.Ru, they are well aware of the problems of gas water heaters. This usually refers to either improper operation of the device or improper installation.

As a rule, the main problem with this type of device is insufficient air draft. It occurs if the device is not connected correctly to the room ventilation system or if the water heater radiator has not been cleaned for a long time. The radiator becomes dirty because any gas, even highly purified methane, contains impurities of hydrocarbons of a more complex structure that do not burn completely (the same mercaptans, for example, which are added to the gas mixture for odor). And the products of their combustion mostly settle on the radiator, which ultimately leads to its clogging and weakening of traction. In any case, when it decreases, the air flow is sufficient to maintain combustion, but part of the methane then burns not to carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide), but to monoxide (carbon monoxide).

Carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) is a strong complexing agent.

Therefore, when you inhale air that contains carbon monoxide, it, like oxygen, forms a complex with hemoglobin. However, unlike oxyhemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin is hundreds of times more stable. Therefore, blood cells connected to carbon monoxide are excluded from the oxygen cycle in the body: neither oxygen nor carbon dioxide can knock CO molecules out of the blood cells. With only 2% CO content in the inhaled air, two or three deep breaths are enough to cause loss of consciousness from oxygen deficiency. In this case, the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood can reach 80-100%. This option is possible in cases of burning coal or wood in a stove with a lack of oxygen.

As the center’s expert noted, in the case of gas water heaters, a different picture takes place: the saturation of the blood with carbon monoxide occurs slowly and unnoticed by the body.

Let us remember that mercaptans partially oxidize and settle in a fire, so the gas leaving the device into the atmosphere of the apartment does not smell. Gradually, the concentration of CO in the blood reaches 30%, the person loses consciousness and dies from suffocation. “We conducted investigative experiments that showed that with this development of events, a lethal concentration of CO in the air is observed not only in the room where the heater is located, but also in others. For example, the heater was in the kitchen, and when the CO concentration reached a threshold value in it, the same value was observed in the bathroom. In the room, the CO content was slightly lower, but also highly toxic. Therefore, it is quite possible that during the night one of the victims “snorted” in the chair, and the second felt unwell, went to the kitchen for coffee, for example, and lost consciousness due to the increased consumption of oxygen and the inability to compensate for it due to poisoning.

According to the expert, it is impossible to be poisoned by carbon dioxide or natural gas itself in such conditions. In addition, the term “poisoning” itself is of little use in this case. Rather, we can talk about their displacement of oxygen from the atmosphere of the room with the subsequent death of a person from oxygen deficiency. However, to do this, you need to place the victim in a room where oxygen does not flow at all, but is only displaced by other gases. But in the conditions of an ordinary apartment this is not feasible.

As the Georgian newspaper “Evening Tbilisi” reports, problems with gas water heaters (especially Iranian ones) have been worrying the Georgian authorities for a long time.

Back in February 2002, three parliamentary committees: economic policy, health and social security, discussed the problem of increased mortality due to faulty devices.

At the meeting, gas heaters of the Czech production “Karma”, Iranian - “Nikala”, as well as devices produced by the Tbilisi airline and Turkey were presented. As Badri Shoshitaishvili, Chairman of the State Department of Standardization and Certification, stated then, of all the heaters in Georgia, only the Czech Karma and the Hermes produced at the Tbilisi airline are certified; all the rest are smuggled.

Expert engineer David Chokhtauri, invited to the meeting, said that most of the poisonings occurred due to improper handling of the Iranian-made Nikala heater.

According to statistics, from three to ten people die because of them in Georgia every month.

Then the parliamentarians limited themselves to only demanding that Gruzstandart publish in the media a list of heaters certified in the country.