On Monday evening, a family of four were poisoned by carbon monoxide in the Brussels municipality of Saint-Gilles.
At around 19:50, the Brussels Fire Brigade were called to a building on Rue Jean Robie in Saint-Gilles to investigate a gas leak.
When emergency services arrived at the scene, their carbon monoxide alarm was triggered and the four residents had to be quickly evacuated.
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According to a spokesperson for the Brussels Fire Brigade, the mother had lost consciousness but regained it before being transferred to hospital with her husband and two children, aged 9 and 17.
Four other residents of the building were slightly intoxicated and had to be treated on site.
Sibelga, Brussels' electricity and natural gas distribution network operator, arrived on the scene and sealed three water heaters in the building.
What caused the poisoning?
Poor evacuation of combustion fumes from the water heater is to blame for the poisonings, according to the Brussels Fire Brigade.
"The father of the family had in fact had a shower, and under normal conditions, the hot smoke from the flue gases might ascend because it is cooler outdoors," a spokesperson for the Brussels Fire Brigade explained to Belga News Agency.
"However, the difference between the flue gases and the temperature outside was too small last night and there was probably a layer of warm air that prevented the flue gases from rising and exiting the building."
