Those poor little children that died in Greece have now been confirmed as having suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.  Their family must be devastated :(.
In case anyone is not aware I thought you might like to know, as it does not seem to be being publicised that you can buy audible alarms for about £20.  Well worth the investment if you are travelling to countries that, perhaps, do not have the safety regulations that we expect particularly if you have children who will be much more vulnerable.

I have one fitted in my static caravan also a smoke alarm.

It's awful isn't it Isabel - my heart goes out to the families involved. :(

Didn't know you could get audible alarms now so thanks for that.

I can't understand why they are not being more publicised.  The only advise I have heard given since this tragedy is to check round the appliances when you get there.  Well call me Bimbo if you like but I don't really think I would like to rely on my expertise in these matters.

to check round the appliances when you get there

I think that is ridiculous advice - how is any lay person supposed to know if they are working properly or not?   Audible alarms make much more sense and as you say should be widely publicised.

I THINK a general rule is, if you see soot marks than walk out the door, BUT I still wouldnt rely on that as I know my dad used to clean to soot off their old gas fire once a year when I was a kid and to my knopwledge we never had CO poisoning,
Lea

Don't forget, though Lea, when you were a kid, your mum & dad probably didn't have double-glazing and draught-proofing everywhere!

Now we are getting so conscious of saving energy we virtually seal ourselves into a room!    I've always made sure that when my children went to uni, that we bought them small carbon-monoxide monitors - they changed colour if there was CO1 in the atmosphere.  Put them in the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living rooms - they cost about £5 each, I think - and I nagged them all to check them at least once a week.

When I first heard about this sad story, my initial thought was CO1 poisoning, but I did feel that it was bad of the local pathologist to say that they children could have been given poison by the parents in a murder/suicide pact as a first theory.

Margot

I agree Lokis mum, that was a terrible thing to have flying around, the mother must have been distraught to think of a suicide pact, or poisoning.

A divorced or seperated partner with their child/ren may fit the pattern of suicide, loss of realtionship/can't take the fact a partner has moved on, or just plain vindictivness to punish the wife, we know these things happen. But I think most Psychologists would agree, father, new girlfriend and his children would have been an odd suicide pact, there would be no real reason for it. A new girlfriend signifies moving on, why would a girlfriend want to kill herself??? Or even without knowledge of a planned suicide it would be unusual for a man to kill a new girlfriend along with his children, the wife/ex-wife would be the target. It was just a very odd assumption to come up with. I never understood where suicide came from.

As for poisoning????  Mushrooms! Surely at least one or two of the family would have had time to crawl to the door for help or pick up the phone??

Carbon monoxide should have always been the first thought all the symptoms were there, what else could knock you out so fast you had no time to react. Or perhaps the authorities over there were thinking of the tourist implications for the hotel. That is the only conclusion I can come up with. :-(

It is terrible sad for all involved.

>what else could knock you out so fast you had no time to react<

Well thats the real danger with CO2 poisoning.....Very often it is NOT a quick killer,and the signs and syptoms being 'flu like' are readily dismissed by people :(
In a Holiday enviroment especially I guess folks may be more inclined to blame the signs and symptoms,Migraine, Head achey,dizzy,upset stomach,muscle pain and cramps,lethargy...on a bit of "Holiday tummy" and Heat stroke than the are to presume CO2, and so continue to expose themselves over days/weeks,unwittingly.

It can takes days even weeks to kill depending on the PPM, 50PPM being HSE safety standard (=0.05%) it takes up to 800 PPM for Dizziness, nausea, convulsions within 45 minutes, and insensible in 2 hours to occur then 1,600PPM for death in 2 hours, these are levels that would not be attained by a faulty appliance in one hit.

On the signs and Sypmtoms though..I always teach that the Classic recognition combined with all other signs and sypmtoms is the RED flush to the face, I would have thought that would have been evident in the parents given the time frame.
I suspect..though hope Im wrong there was some 'damage limitation' going on by Greek officials more concerned over affects to tourism??? tragic... :(

Hi HG that is really informative, your right most of the symptoms would have been blamed on food and sun, quite scary isn't it?

I read reports that some of the family especially one of the boys was feeling very ill at breakfast, so you are saying that the boys would have died from a steady build up of the same amount of CO2 over days, and it was not just a larger mass of CO2 that night that made all of them fall unconscious in one night, which is the way I was thinking. They must have all been very ill for days.  When you think of it, that is even more tragic that no-one picked up on it, they could all have been saved.

Just out of interest if they had left the day before, how long would the CO2 have stayed in their bodies, and would they have continued to be ill for days still?  I wonder how many holiday makers may have had the same symptoms and never known.

It's not just appliances.  I remember many years ago a work colleague telling me she went to the doctor suppering these sort of symtoms.  She was dumbfounded when he asked her is she had a leaking exhaust in her car.  She had been aware of one for sometime but had decided to leave it as long as it wasn't sounding too bad.  I seem to remember it did take her a little while before she felt completely well again.
It says here between 10 and 50% will have long term problems :(

Apparently the couple who had the same room the week before also felt unwell, and were in hospital and had to delay their flight. They said they are thanking God they decided not to take their grandchildren on the holiday with them...

Well, I'm off to my DIY store to get a tester, I shall do as Lokis mum does and when my children move out they shall take one with them, and from now on I shall take one on holiday with me too.

Although it is a minimal risk, it only has to happen once doesn't it, what has happened is enough of a lesson for me. The sales of CO2 testers are going to rocket. :-D

I did the same when mine was in cheap student accommodation.  I also gave her the spot ones, although they were saying this morning that they're not a good idea because you don't know unless you check them, (possibly OK for adults who are aware but not for students with others things on their minds!), but the audible ones make such a noise that even if you were slipping into unconsciousness, they would make you aware. ;)