Tbilisi Energy gas company calls for safe use of heating devices ahead of winter season
The company said all 12 recent accidents caused by leaks of carbon monoxide had taken place in rented flats or commercial spaces in Tbilisi, including one that ended in a fatal outcome. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Tbilisi Energy gas company on Tuesday urged the public, especially those renting their flats, to ensure safety of their heating devices for the upcoming cold season.
The company said all 12 recent accidents caused by leaks of carbon monoxide had taken place in rented flats or commercial spaces in Tbilisi, including one that ended in a fatal outcome.
The company also noted open-combustion water heaters had been installed in the flats in question, with the installation of the devices prohibited in Georgia.
The flat owners had been warned about the danger by our specialists. Shortly before the incidents in these areas, the company’s specialists dismantled the open-combustion water heaters, but none of the flat owners took into account the recommendations”, the company noted.
Tbilisi Energy also noted it was offering free safety checks of devices for citizens throughout Tbilisi and called for “civic responsibility”.
Georgian energy ombudsman Salome Vardiashvili has urged the public to ensure the safety of their heating devices in anticipation of the incoming winter season across the country.
Three individuals, two of them reportedly Nigerian citizens, were injured in an explosion supposedly caused by a gas leak in a residential building in Didi Digomi district of Tbilisi early on Thursday.
The staff of Tbilisi Energy detected 738 wrongly installed gas devices in the capital city in the last month alone, which frequently cause fatal accidents in the country, especially during the cold season.
Seven people have died as a result of a carbon monoxide leak in a Tbilisi apartment located at 67 Ketevan Tsamebuli Avenue.