Two Jharkhand men die inside locked, air-contintioned SUVs within three days
Experts said a faulty AC vent could have led to the release of carbon monoxide in the SUV
A software engineer in his late thirties was found dead in his locked SUV—with the AC switched on—in Birsanagar, Jamshedpur, around 11 pm Friday, the police said.
This is the second such incident in Jharkhand. The Chaibasa Muffasil police had recovered the body of a driver in another SUV—with the doors locked and the AC on—in west Singhbhum district on August 26.
“Around 10.30 pm on Friday, some locals informed us about a stationary vehicle with its doors closed, engine and AC on. I immediately sent a patrol team to the spot which found an unconscious man inside the locked vehicle. We first took him to MGM Medical College and Hospital and then to Tata Main Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival,” Rajesh Kumar Jha, Birsanagar PS officer-in-charge (OC), said Saturday morning.
He said they recovered an inhaler from the vehicle and the preliminary investigation indicated that the deceased man Dipak Sinha was an asthma patient. “He appeared to have suffocated to death. Locals said the vehicle was parked around 4.30-5pm Friday and they spotted it at the same place at night, with its doors closed and the engine and AC on. The Covid-19 test autopsy reports of the deceased man will make the matter clearer,” added Jha.
Experts said a faulty AC vent could have led to the release of carbon monoxide in the SUV. For a man to die within an hour, the concentration of carbon monoxide would have to be at least 3,200 ppm (parts per million).
In another such incident just three days ago, the Chaibasa Muffasil police had recovered body of a driver Shyam Sirka from a parked SUV on Chaibasa-Chakradharpur road on Wednesday.