Associated Press Worldstream
December 28, 2004 Tuesday 2:39 PM Eastern Time

Three more cases of gas poisoning reported in Armenia _ 2004 death
toll rises to 19

YEREVAN, Armenia

Gas leaks from faulty heating stoves killed three more people in
Armenia this month, an emergency official said Tuesday, bringing the
number of such deaths to 19 this year.

Two people died from carbon monoxide leaking from a homemade stove in
an apartment in the capital, Yerevan, said spokesman Nikolai
Grigorian of the Emergency Situations Ministry.

One person died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a stove in a
village outside of Yerevan, Grigorian said, but could not say exactly
when the latest deaths occurred.

Fifteen of this year’s 19 such deaths have occurred in December
alone.

In another village, three family members were found unconscious by
neighbors and hospitalized after being overcome by carbon monoxide
from a stove that lacked a flue.

Many people in the poor ex-Soviet republic use homemade gas heaters,
sometimes tapping illegally into gas lines, because their homes lack
heaters, which are expensive.

Grigorian said the ministry had begun public awareness campaign on
the dangers of gas leaks and carbon monoxide.