The heating system of the sports hall malfunctioning and an entire women’s volleyball team ending up in hospital due to carbon monoxide poisoning: this is what happened in Zafferana Etnea, in the Catania area, at the end of the match between Zafferana Volley and Volley Milazzo.
An athlete from the Messina team suffered the first illness with dizziness and breathing difficulties. The girl suddenly lost consciousness, regaining consciousness after a few minutes. Within a few moments, all the classmates started complaining of severe headaches and breathing problems. The doctor present, suspicious of an anomalous smell, requested the intervention of the firefighters.
A huge emergency was triggered and several ambulances from the 118 service arrived on site. The players, 15 in total, all already discharged, were transported to the Cannizzaro hospital in Catania and for some the hyperbaric chamber was activated as a precaution. The firefighters intervened on site and, after having ascertained the presence of carbon monoxide, started inspections to reconstruct what happened and are also waiting to examine the authorizations.
“The system – claims the mayor of Zafferana Salvo Russo – was in the testing phase, but had obtained approval from the Volleyball Federation”.
In addition to the Milazzo players, during the night the Zafferana players were also invited by the police to go to the emergency room even though they had not shown any symptoms of illness.
The Asd Volley 96 company underlined: «Carbon monoxide is a lethal and silent gas. Today our athletes risked their lives. And this, for us, is unacceptable. We cannot remain silent. We owe it to our girls, to their families and to those who enter that gym every day.”
The carbon monoxide emergency that poisoned the volleyball players occurred in the third set, with the score 1-1 and with the score 3-5 in favor of the visiting team. This was made known by the Asd Volley 96 sports club of Milazzo.