It was around 7 pm that 27-year-old Chander Sharma and his girl friend Rachna parked their Maruti car in their garage in Mansarovar Park area of northeast Delhi. They asked their common friend Navneet Bhalla to lock the garage from outside and come back after two hours. When Navneet returned around 9.30 pm he found Chander and Rachna sprawled in the car. He thought they were unconscious, but they were actually dead, probably of asphyxiation. According to newspaper reports, the shutters of the garage, when closed, slid deep into the floor, leaving very little room for ventilation. The car's air-conditioner and engine were switched on, but had stopped functioning as the battery had run out. The setting was a perfect death trap.
With its engine running and air-conditioner on in the closed garage, carbon monoxide (CO), the major constituent of car exhaust, would have filled the entire area in no time. The air-conditioner would have taken in the noxious fumes from outside and flooded the interior. Even if the windowpanes had been rolled down, the two would still have been directly exposed to the fumes. Carbon monoxide is a sinister killer. It is produced as a result of incomplete combustion of fuels such as coal, oil and wood. It is invisible, odourless and colourless. At home, heating and cooking equipment are possible sources of CO. Vehicles or generators running in a closed garage also produce dangerous levels of CO. According to toxicologists, a high concentration of CO can kill a person in two to three minutes.
 If breathed in, CO enters the blood stream where it binds to haemoglobin (Hb) forming carboxy-haemoglobin (COHb). Because CO binds much more strongly than Oxygen (O2) to haemoglobin; it effectively ties up the Hb and reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of blood. This affinity is 200 to 300 times more. If enough Hb is converted to COHb, the body becomes starved of oxygen, leading to unconsciousness and death. As carbon monoxide has a long half-life in the human body, about five hours, even low concentrations of CO can, over time, lead to fatal levels of COHb in the blood. The most frightening aspect of carbon monoxide is that it is completely undetectable by human senses as it is colourless, odourless and tasteless. Furthermore, its initial effects (headache, dizziness, nausea) are easily mistaken for symptoms of common illnesses like influenza. The best first-aid for CO poisoning is a well-ventilated environment.
Protect yourself and your family from CO poisoning
 To warm up a vehicle, especially during winter, remove it from the garage immediately after starting it.
Do not run a vehicle, generator, or other fuelled engine or motor indoors, even if
garage doors are open.
CO from a running vehicle or generator inside an attached garage can get inside the house, even with the garage doors open.
Normal air circulation is not enough to ensure prevention of dangerous accumulations inside.
Have your vehicle inspected for exhaust leaks.
 Keep a window slightly open whenever using kerosene, coal or gas heaters, especially if the
ventilation is poor.
Always refuel outside, after the device has cooled.
Never use barbecue grills - which can produce CO - inside the house or garage.
When camping, use only battery-powered heaters and flashlights in tents, trailers and motor homes. Using fossil fuels is extremely dangerous.
Places having fuel-burning appliances need to be properly ventilated and maintained.
Never sleep in a closed car
Park in an open space, shut down the engine and let fresh air in
Do not even sit inside a closed car that is parked in a closed space or a garage.
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