Safety checks on cookers follow death of student

ONE of the world’s largest manufacturers of cookers is to carry out safety checks on one of its products following the death of a student who was overcome by gas.

Glen Dimplex has confirmed that following the death of a 21-year-old student in Co Cork, an inspection showed the model could have developed a fault if it wasn’t operated in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions, leading to the release of high levels of carbon dioxide.

The Cork Institute of Technology student was discovered dead by his girlfriend at his rented flat at Sleaveen East, Macroom, on November 8 last.

She detected a smell of gas and gardaí, called to the scene, sealed off the flat while they carried out detailed technical examinations.

A postmortem carried out on the body of the French architectural student by assistant state pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster indicated he had been overcome by carbon monoxide.

Prior to the result gardaí were already suspicious about the cooker. When Dr Bolster presented the postmortem findings local coroner Dr Frank O’Connell asked gardaí to carry out a number of further tests on the appliance.

Preliminary tests had already been carried out by Bord Gáis and the National Consumer Agency, but the cooker was then forwarded to a specialist institute in France which carried out an in-depth independent analysis on it.

Senior garda sources said they are continuing to liaise with Bord Gáis and National Consumer Agency experts as they prepare their file for the coroner.

They are also awaiting the result of toxicology reports which will be forwarded to Dr O’Connell.

It is likely the student’s inquest will take place in the next few months.

The company said the safety notice related to New World models.

A company spokeswoman said they were prepared to carry out free safety inspections on New World cookers to give customers complete peace of mind.

The product is a silver-coloured, freestanding New World Vision cooker, specifically fuelled by LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) and contains a serial number beginning ‘08.

Customers who have such an appliance or who are unsure can call 1 800 569 569 to arrange a free engineer call-out.