Smoke from mosquito repellent claims life of Odisha youth!

Bhubaneswar: Exposure to mosquito repellent smoke can be dangerous as a youth died reportedly due to suffocation caused by fumes from an anti-mosquito coil inside a vehicle here in the city.

The deceased youth has been identified as Ajit Kumar Das alias Guga (34), a resident of Athantar village in Balipatna area in Khordha district.

The incident occurred at the Unit-4 Market in Bhubaneswar.

According to reports, Ajit had been to Unit-4 Market in the wee hours of Sunday in his mini truck to load the vehicle with fish from the market. He reached the local fish market at around 1 am. As fish traders’ vehicles had not arrived at the market by that time, he slept inside the vehicle using a mosquito repellent coil for protection against mosquito bites.

Two hours later when the fish marketeers tried to make him awake from sleep, he did not wake up. The traders got him out of the vehicle by breaking open the door and rushed him to the Capital Hospital, where he was declared dead.

The cause of death can be ascertained after the post-mortem.

“He was sleeping inside the vehicle but did not wake up. We heard that he died after inhaling smoke released from the mosquito repellent coil. Some said that he died due to sudden cardiac arrest. When we reached the hospital, he had already died,” said bereaved mother of the deceased.

“He left home at around 10 pm on Saturday. He was sleeping inside the vehicle at the market. When people repeatedly called him, he did not get up,” said the deceased youth’s wife denying the claim that he died due to smoke from mosquito repellent coil.

“The windshield glass was open when he was sleeping inside the vehicle. If it was closed, he might have suffered due to mosquito repellent coil smoke,” she added.