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News
Young winemaker suffocates in accident
Nerea Pérez, niece of Bierzo winemaker Raul Pérez, died earlier this week after suffocating on gasses in the family winery in Salas de los Barrios in Spain’s north-west.
Nerea Pérez was only 25 when she died in the accident (Photo: Twitter).
According to police Nerea, 25, fainted while inspecting a wine vat during fermentation and suffocated after falling in.
She was found unconscious by her uncle, Raul, one of Bierzo’s most highly regarded winemakers, and a National Police unit helped remove her from the vat but paramedics on the scene were unable to resuscitate her, according to InfoBierzo.
Nerea had been working in the winery for two years following her graduation from Coruña University in Chemistry and the Environment in 2012.
Nerea was also secretary of the Socialist Youth of Bierzo where the district secretary, Alvaro Gerardo Courel, expressed their grief: “We regret the loss of a member of Bierzo, a companion, which is made more painful by her youth.”
Raul Pérez is a well known winemaker in the Spanish region of Bierzo.
The candidate for Secretary General of the PSOE in Castilla y León, Julio Villarrubia, suspended all campaign events planned for today in León as a sign of respect.
Carbon dioxide poisoning during winemaking can occur easily if precautions are not taken.
The gas is colorless, odorless and heavier than air which means it sinks to the bottom of vats and in wine cellars and a concentration of just 8% is enough to kill an adult.
While it may seem trivial to correct a report on such a tragic event, I think your correspondent should note that the gas would have been carbon dioxide, not carbon monoxide. The latter is poisonous, the former is not as we would otherwise not drink Champagne. Carbon dioxide is heavy and displaces the lighter air and therefore oxygen, so that anyone trapped suffocates.
There have unfortunately been many such deaths in the past. This accounts for the “Do not enter without permission” signs that many companies display next to the doors on steel fermenting tanks.
Actually, the report said it was carbon dioxide in the next to last paragraph.
Actually the writer did say it was carbon dioxide (second to last paragraph). Nice to have one of the very few MW’s in
the world commenting on the article. We’re in good company!!
Nick Bulleid MW’s point is that Carbon Dioxide is not poisonous! It asphyxiates you by displacing oxygen and you can die by suffocation. This should be corrected 🙂
However! On further investigation you can have carbon dioxide toxicity at high levels = poisoning!
Never mind my last comment 🙂