A woman has died and another is fighting for her life after a cryotherapy session in Paris.
What was meant to be a routine treatment at a gym in the neighborhood of Popincourt, on the right bank of Seine, ended in a tragedy on Monday.
An employee of the gym, who was in her late 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene, while a client, who is in her 30s, was taken to hospital in critical condition.
A nitrogen leak from the cryochamber – where temperature drops to below -100°C – is understood to have caused the poisoning, a source close to the investigation said.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office said: ‘An investigation into the cause of death has been launched.’
Three people who were in contact with the victims and provided first aid to them also received treatment.
150 people evacuated from gym
As many as 150 people were inside the facility when the alleged poisoning happened.
The centre was evacuated as police and emergency services arrived at the scene.
It was not long after that a body covered with a white sheet was carried out and put into a vehicle parked outside.
A member of the gym, Diego Brisset, arrivedafter the harrowing incident at 6.20pm to find police outside.
He said: ‘I was going to train, like every evening, when I saw two colleagues from the gym who told me that it was closed and (…) that there had been a death.’
Nitrogen is an odourless gas used for sports recovery during a cryotherapy
session.
A person is immersed in tubs of ice water or, as is the case in some gyms, nitrogen chambers.
The cold is said to help prevent or treat muscle soreness after exercising, so it is a popular recovery method among athletes.
Cryochamber treatments gone wrong
But some experts are unsure and point to the lack of conclusive evidence supporting its efficacy and the possibility of adverse effects, especially with whole-body cryotherapy.
Past incidents at cryochambers include frostbite, severe burns, and even fatalities.
The treatment came under scrutiny in the US in 2015 after a woman froze to death at a Las Vegas spa.
The 24-year-old was believed to have entered one of the spa’s chambers after business hours to relieve some aches, and was discovered the next day by a co-worker.
According to one account, she was ‘frozen in solid ice’ after being trapped inside for more than 10 hours.
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