According to the first elements, a nitrogen leak in the cryotherapy cabin is the source of poisoning, according to a source close to the investigation.
An employee of a sports hall in the 11th arrondissement of Paris died and a client was hospitalized in a serious state after a nitrogen leak, according to the first elements of the investigation, during a cryotherapy session on Monday. The facts took place around 6:20 p.m., according to a police source.
An employee of the gym, born in 1996, died. Another person, client of the establishment, born in 1991, was hospitalized and his vital prognosis is engaged. According to the first elements of the investigation, a nitrogen leak in the cryotherapy cabin is behind intoxication, according to a source close to the investigation.
Decrease in oxygen
“A survey in search of the causes of death is open and entrusted to the police station of the 11th arrondissement of Paris, in co-saisine with the labor inspectorate”said the Paris prosecutor’s office, requested by AFP. “An autopsy and toxicological analyzes were ordered to determine the cause of death with precision, which would have occurred during a session of cryotherapy »he said.
Three other people who provided care for the two victims were taken care of in relative emergency, said the police source. Nitrogen is a odorless gas which causes a decrease in oxygen in the air and can cause poisoning. AFP journalists present on the scene saw agents out of the gym a body on a stretcher covered with a white sheet and place it in a funeral services around 9:45 p.m. At the same time, a woman in sports clothes came out of the establishment, in tears.
“Cold therapy”
“I was going to train like every night, I saw two colleagues in the room who told me that the room was closed and (…) that there was a death” Because of a nitrogen leak in the cryotherapy room, reports Diego Brisset, 26. He does not practice this technique by the cold: “I have always been told it was dangerous”he said.
The cryotherapy cabin would have been repaired on Monday, the near source said. The gym, which had 150 people, was evacuated shortly after the facts, according to the police source. Young people who are on the nearby terrace, Boulevard Voltaire, say they saw around 7:30 p.m. three fire trucks arrive. Paravents were installed to hide what was going on in front of the door of the room and along the sidewalk.
Cryotherapy is a “Cold therapy” which consists in placing a person for 2 to 3 minutes in rooms or cabins whose temperature can descend under -110 ° C. The person is immersed in ice water baths or nitrogen bedrooms. Initially intended for high -level athletes in order to prevent or treat muscle pain after exercise, this practice is proposed to relieve inflammatory or neurological diseases, and even used outside of any pathological context. The presence of this installation in a gym, however, raises questions, while justice has judged that cryotherapy can only be practiced by a doctor, otherwise it is the illegal exercise of medicine, has decided the Court of Cassation.
