In a tragic incident, five persons, including four teenagers, died due to asphyxia from angithi smoke in Amroha district in Uttar Pradesh. Several such incidents happen during winters.
Here we’ll explain why it is dangerous to sleep in a closed room with a burning coal brazier (angithi).
When coal burns in a closed space, it consumes all the oxygen available the room and then carbon monoxide is produced. This poisonous and odorless gas mix with the haemoglobin present in our blood and forms carboxyhaemoglobin.
This carboxyhaemoglobin decreases the oxygen carrying capacity of blood in our body. This condition is called carbon monoxide poisoning.
The early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches or dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, tiredness, chest and stomach pains and visual problems.
The brain gets deprived of oxygen which leads to suffocation. If the exposure levels are very high, death can occur within minutes.
It is advised not to sleep in a closed room with burning coal inside it.