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In a shocking and extremely disturbing incident that took place in Gurgaon, a group of five friends were left puking blood after allegedly consuming mouth fresheners at a restaurant called Laforestta Cafe. According to NDTV, upon investigation, it was found that the guests were served dry ice in mouth freshener packets.
Dry ice is the cooled and condensed form of the gas carbon dioxide, which can lead to cold burns and asphyxiation if consumed by accident. All five people were hospitalised and two out of them are in critical condition. A video of the aftermath of them consuming the mouth freshener has gone viral on social media. We can see how their tongues turned red and how they were visibly distressed.
Scary! Five people started throwing up blood and reported a burning sensation in their mouths after eating mouth freshener after their meal at a cafe in Gurugram
‘In his complaint to the police, Mr Kumar said, "I showed the packet of the mouth freshener to a doctor, who said it… pic.twitter.com/CCY9bHhLRG— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) March 4, 2024
According to Moneycontrol, the people in the video are the friends of a man named Ankit Kumar, who took the video. The incident took place on March 2. We see how a man vomits after consuming water, while another woman rubs ice on her tongue.
Dry ice can be potentially dangerous if not handled properly since it is extremely cold and can cause frostbite if it comes in direct contact with the skin.
“Both liquid nitrogen and dry ice can cause severe damage to skin and internal organs if mishandled or accidently ingested due to the extremely low temperatures they can maintain. As such, liquid nitrogen and dry ice should not be directly consumed or allowed to directly contact exposed skin. While retail food-related incidents of accidental ingestion or direct contact with liquid nitrogen and dry ice in the United States have been low, injuries have been severe,” states the FDA.
The customers, in their police complaint, claimed that after consuming the mouth freshener, they felt a burning sensation in their mouths and began to vomit. Soon, they were vomiting blood. Trying to rinse their mouths with water didn’t help.
“I showed the packet of the mouth freshener to a doctor, who said it was dry ice. According to the doctor, it is an acid which can lead to death,” said Ankit Kumar.
The manager of the restaurant was arrested after a day of the incident. An FIR was registered under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Kherki Daula police station.
How dangerous this is!