Three poisoned by wine fermentation gas in Vaslui cellar, one resuscitated from cardiac arrest
Emergency services in Vaslui County responded to an underground cellar in Odaia Bogdana on Sunday after three people lost consciousness from wine fermentation fumes, leaving two in comas and one resuscitated from cardiac arrest.
Emergency response in Odaia Bogdana
On Sunday, 20 September 2026, emergency personnel responded to a household cellar in the village of Odaia Bogdana, located within the Fălciu commune of Vaslui County. Three individuals were discovered unconscious after descending into an enclosed underground room where containers of freshly harvested wine must were undergoing active fermentation. The alert triggered a multi-agency rescue response coordinated by the Vaslui County Ambulance Service (SAJ) alongside the Vaslui Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU). First responders were dispatched across multiple regional stations to reach the rural property, assess the atmospheric danger, and extract the incapacitated residents.
At Odaia Bogdana, three people were found unconscious in a cellar where wine was boiling in containers. A mobile intensive care ambulance with a doctor from Vaslui, two SAJ B2 ambulances with medical assistants from Murgeni and Bârlad, and an ISU B2 ambulance from Huși were sent.
Condition of the victims and on-site resuscitation
Medical teams entering the domestic cellar discovered three individuals suffering from acute, life-threatening gas intoxication. Rescuers identified a 76-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman, both of whom had lapsed into a deep, unresponsive coma. The third victim, a 40-year-old man, was found in complete cardio-respiratory arrest with no detectable vital functions at the time the first responders arrived. Paramedics immediately initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation inside the home, successfully restarting the 40-year-old man's heart and spontaneous breathing prior to ambulance transport.
- Male victim in cardiac arrest
- 40 years
- Female victim in deep coma
- 72 years
- Male victim in deep coma
- 76 years
This latter individual was temporarily resuscitated with success by the first crew that arrived. The coordinating physician is to decide where the three victims will be transported.
Mobilization of emergency vehicles across Vaslui
The rescue operation required the simultaneous dispatch of four specialized emergency response vehicles drawn from four separate localities within Vaslui County. The dispatch center assigned a mobile intensive care unit (TIM) staffed by a physician directly from the city of Vaslui. Two standard type-B2 ambulances staffed by medical assistants were deployed from regional ambulance substations in Murgeni and Bârlad. The Vaslui Emergency Situations Inspectorate contributed an additional type-B2 vehicle from its firefighting station in Huși to support patient evacuation. Paramedics stabilized all three patients at the scene before transferring them to regional hospitals for intensive medical therapy.
Seasonal hazards of cellar fermentation gases
The incident in Fălciu commune follows the start of the annual autumn winemaking season, when freshly gathered grapes are pressed and stored in domestic containers to ferment. As must ferments, the biochemical reaction releases large volumes of heavier-than-air carbon dioxide gas, which rapidly settles into unventilated subterranean rooms and displaces breathable oxygen. Individuals entering such poorly ventilated spaces can lose consciousness almost instantly upon breathing the gas accumulation. Across Romanian rural areas, dozens of individuals suffer severe toxic poisoning or fatal asphyxiation each autumn under similar circumstances when descending into unmonitored cellars.
