The beginning of February 2023 was marked by a very dangerous intoxication for 16 inhabitants of a residence in the city of Limay, in the Yvelines. As Le Parisien reports, the cause of this intoxication was very particular since it was acid that was in the drinking water pipes of the residence. In question, the use of hydrochloric acid, very corrosive, to purge the pipes clogged with limestone. Indeed, after several complaints from the residents of the residence concerning the malfunctioning of the heating and hot water, forcing them to wash with water heated in pots, the owner finally decided to act.
The subcontractor who intervened to rid the pipes of the limestone which was preventing them from working properly thus used an injection of hydrochloric acid to dissolve it. Needless to say, this substance is dangerous to health and, as described by the Ministry of Labor quoted by Le Parisien, can “lead to oral pain, vomiting, esophageal or gastric perforations” if ingested. This is exactly how 16 people found themselves poisoned with acid, as they were able to testify to the Parisian.
Complaints have been filed
“I took my shower when I came home from football and immediately it stung my eyes, it hurt” explains an 11-year-old child while his sister, a 16-year-old teenager, says that it It was his strange-tasting tea that surprised her: “my throat was burning, I had a stomach ache all night”. For a woman who had heated water to wash herself, it was her eyes and hands that were affected. If the acid arrived directly at the faucets of the inhabitants of the residence, it is because the subcontractor had warned them of an operation on Friday February 3 but it was on Thursday 2 that they moved. The water was therefore not cut off at the right time. Complaints for intentional violence by recklessness have been filed by the inhabitants of this residence which is not their first problem, after the heating failures and other cracks in the buildings.
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