Laughing gas can have neurological consequences.
It can also cause an explosion.
It was the accident that occurred this Friday afternoon to 5 teenagers and an adult, which caused the explosion of a Peugeot 306 by inhaling nitrous oxide in the passenger compartment.
The emergency services were alerted at 2:20 p.m. by numerous calls from customers of the Carrefour shopping center in Montigny-lès-Cormeilles.
Everyone has just heard an explosion in the closed parking lot of the hypermarket.
A detonation, then the car windows shatter
On site, the emergency services discovered six people who were burned in the face.
No less than 31 firefighters intervened to take care of the victims who were transported in relative urgency to the hospitals of Eaubonne, Argenteuil and Pontoise.
The burns turned out to be slight, but eardrum problems could occur due to the bang heard throughout the area.
The explosion turned out to be powerful since the vehicle's windows were shattered, the doors were bulging and deformed.
An aerosol can of computer dust remover apparently containing nitrous oxide as a propellant was found at the scene.
A lit cigarette
According to the first elements collected by the police, the five teenagers, aged 14 to 17, all from Montigny, like the 38-year-old adult who accompanied them, had parked in the parking lot in order to inhale laughing gas. , with the help of balloons.
One of them opened the door of the 306 to light a cigarette, apparently causing the explosion.
Opening the door may have helped limit the effects of the explosion, which would have been more violent inside otherwise.
The car was completely destroyed.
It had been borrowed.
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After serious poisoning, should laughing gas be prohibited?
A similar accident occurred last November in Ain.
Four young girls aged 16 to 25, who were handling the same type of dry air bombs containing nitrous oxide, were burned in an explosion in their Renault Clio.
The windows of the vehicle were closed, which no doubt contributed to the accident.
A risky practice
According to the National Research and Safety Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Occupational Diseases (INRS), nitrous oxide is a powerful oxidant which is at the origin of reactions which can become violent, up to fire or explosion, on contact with combustible materials (wood, paper, oils, grease), and some combustible gases.
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Neurological sequelae, death ... the worrying mode of laughing gas in young people
Apart from this risk of explosion, the consumption of laughing gas as a recreational drug presents certain risks, which can lead to death, according to the interministerial mission of the fight against drugs and addictive behavior.
It underlines the immediate risks of suffocation from lack of oxygen, loss of consciousness, burning by the cold of the expelled gas, disorientation, dizziness, falls ...
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"In the event of repeated consumption and at short intervals or in high doses, severe neurological, hematological, psychiatric or cardiac disorders can occur", she adds.
Consumption associated with alcohol or other risk-increasing drugs.
