Death of Costa del Sol resident investigated due to possible poor combustion of a charcoal heater
The 48-year-old man, who lived alone, was found unresponsive at his home at 9.30pm by a relative
A tragedy has unfolded in Nerja, in the Costa del Sol, the night before this Christmas Eve. The Guardia Civil has opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the death of a resident of the easternmost coastal town of Malaga province. The 48-year-old was found dead at his home in the central San Francisco street, in the Las Protegidas neighbourhood, on Tuesday night.
The alarm was raised at around 9.30pm, when a relative alerted the emergency services that a man was unresponsive in his home. The Guardia Civil, medical staff from the 061 health emergency service and officers from the Nerja Local Police force were called to the scene. On arrival, the medical staff could only confirm the man's death.
According to the first hypotheses of the investigators, the death could be related to the poor combustion of a charcoal brazier that the man had lit to warm himself, which could have caused a possible carbon monoxide poisoning. However, it will be the autopsy that will definitively determine the cause of death.
Consternation
The judicial protocol was immediately activated to proceed with the removal of the body. The deceased, who lived alone, was a well-known person in the Las Protegidas area which has caused considerable outpouring of grief among residents and shopkeepers in the area.
Antonio Arrabal told SUR this Wednesday how he found his brother dead. "Since he wouldn't answer the door, I went in with a key I have and found him lying on the sofa, unresponsive. There was a lot of smoke in the house. It seems he bought the charcoal and the brazier and lit it inside, instead of outside," he said. "I immediately called emergency services. We're waiting for the autopsy so we can bury him. It's a tragedy; he'd never used a charcoal brazier to keep warm. I don't know why he did it, and inside the house no less," he added.
This event once again puts the spotlight on the risks associated with the use of braziers and traditional heating systems, especially during the winter months. Every year, the emergency services insist on the need to take extreme precautions, ventilate rooms properly and check combustion systems to avoid accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, a recurrent cause of deaths in the home.
This incident is reminiscent of what happened just a month ago in Torrox, where on 25 November four members of the same family, two adults and two minors of Moroccan origin, died inside their home, in a case that shocked the Axarquia region. The investigation pointed to carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of a faulty heating system.
