Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani lawmakers on Tuesday voiced concern over the recent cases of dioxide poisoning in the country.
The leader of opposition Whole Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, said the death toll from such instances has reached 151 in the past year and a half. The overall number of affected persons exceeds 400, he maintained.
But official figures indicate that 20 people have died of carbon dioxide to date.
"The reasons of the development should be studied and the sale of Iran-made heaters that have already caused several deaths banned," Hasanguliyev told the legislature.
The party chairman said the reports saying that gas supplied to domestic consumers is not fully refined should be scrutinized as well.
"Officials have already admitted to this," Hasanguliyev said, calling on the parliament to demand that the government report on the matter.
Minister of Energy and Industry Natig Aliyev told the press Monday that local refineries are able to refine only 60% of produced gas due to the lack of capacities, but made it clear that the poisoning cases had no bearing on the quality of gas and resulted from negligence.
Vice-Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov said he had personally enquired about the causes of the accidents.
"I have learnt that there are no worries over the composition of gas supplied to the population, and simply the facilities used fail to meet the required standards," Asgarov said, adding that respective bodies were addressing the issue.