Thursday, June 20, 2013

Man in coma and eight others hospitalised after liquid nitrogen poured into pool during party

A 21-year-old man is in a coma and eight others were hospitalised after party organisers poured barrels of liquid nitrogen into a pool in León in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.



Partygoers filmed the moment four large buckets of the liquid were tipped into a pool, sending toxic plumes of smoke into the air and leaving guests gasping for breath.

The extremely cold liquid became toxic when mixed with the chlorine in the outdoor pool, causing swimmers to pass out. Victims were pulled to safety by paramedics but one man, Jose Ignacio Lopez del Toro, remains comatose.


YouTube link.

The eight others hospitalised have since been released but some were diagnosed with cardiovascular problems. Around 200 young guests had been invited to the event hosted by German liquor brand Jagermeister.

5 comments:

Ratz said...

I'd have assumed it was just the nitrogen gas which caused them to pass out. You can't taste it or smell it, but it can suffocate you. In certain labs, if there's someone unconscious you mustn't go to them for fear they've succumbed to nitrogen poisoning and you could be overwhelmed too. There's even a priority key to stop people using the lift when you transport nitrogen in it.

Kevin said...

Yes, the nitrogen displacing the oxygen was the problem.

From i09...

Geekosystem explains:

Nitrogen is pretty inert, and shouldn’t have a major reaction with anything in the pool. Instead, chemist Paul Bracher explains that the liquid nitrogen boiled off after being poured into the pool, expanding quickly and displacing the oxygen around the pool. That meant that pretty soon, everyone in the pool was attempting to breathe nitrogen instead of oxygen, which is not a thing that works, as demonstrated in this video.

Gareth said...

Hold on though, isn't the air around us already 80% nitogen?

Dunex said...

Is it possible that Nitrogen trichloride was created?

Anonymous said...

Air is 78% nitrogen. And temporary oxygen deprivation doesn't induce comas. Back to school with you lot.