On May 6, 108 Central Military Hospital said that on June 1, the hospital received two patients with suffocation in a state of respiratory failure, circulatory collapse, requiring mechanical ventilation and vasopressors.

According to information provided by family members, when the house lost power, the father and three sons from Hai Phong started the car engine in a closed room to sleep to avoid the heat.

When the family discovered it, the eldest daughter had died of suffocation, the father and second daughter were in a coma, and were given emergency treatment at Kien An Hospital (Hai Phong) and then transferred to 108 Central Military Hospital.

After more than a day of intensive resuscitation, the general condition of both father and son has improved, they are conscious, the endotracheal tube has been removed, and vasopressors have been stopped. By May 6, the condition of both father and son is stable, they continue to be monitored and can be discharged in the near future.

Assessing the cause of the risk of respiratory failure and death in people who have the habit of sleeping in cars to avoid the heat, Dr. Le Lan Phuong, Director of the Intensive Care Center (108 Central Military Hospital), said that turning on the car's air conditioner to sleep while closing the car doors will produce a large amount of CO and CO ₂ gas into the surrounding environment. This gas continues to be sucked in by the air conditioner, causing people sleeping inside the car to suffocate. The victim will lose consciousness, fall into a coma and die if not given timely emergency care.

Dr. Le Lan Phuong warned: "Another risk that can occur is if the car door is closed while the car is stopped for too long, especially when it is hot, it can cause the car to run out of fuel and stop working, especially when the internal ventilation mode is turned on. At that time, the air in the car will not be able to exchange with the outside, and at the same time the temperature in the car will increase, causing people in the car to lack oxygen and suffer heat shock, death if not supported promptly."

Dr. Le Lan Phuong said that in case of discovering a person in a coma in a car suspected of suffocation, it is necessary to quickly take the victim to a ventilated area, support breathing, give artificial respiration if the victim stops breathing and immediately transfer to a nearby medical facility for support.

The chance of survival of a victim of suffocation depends on the time it takes to get to the hospital. When someone is suffocated, open all the doors to let air in and immediately take the victim away from the toxic gas area and quickly take them to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Through the unfortunate incident above, doctors warn that sleeping in a car always carries a risk of death that anyone who intends to sleep in a car needs to know, especially in the current situation of prolonged heat and rotating power outages.