me and my group encountered some poisonous gas in our latest project here in northern mindanao. i want to ask what should we do about this?
it makes our lungs constrict and its painful for us to breath. we tried wearing masks but our eyes would sting. hope you can help us.
There are a number of sources/types of toxic "gas" that can be found in IJA treasure sites.
1) Chemical such as gasoline, various industrial chemicals and solvents
.
2) Industrial chemicals for pesticides which would specifically be designed to kill (bugs).
3) Dead Man Traps , decomposing human bodies. These are the worst, a mixture of sulfides, oxides, fungus and bacterias.
4) Decomposing explosives which can generate again oxides, nitrides and such. Non-organic compounds.
5) Poison gas devices specifically booby trap types and example is cyanide and hydrochloric acid glass cylinders smashed by a spring device.
On Mindanao we have, personally, #5 in Bukidnon which killed several people, #4 and #3 and #1 in Zamboanga. In Negros #3. I am rather sure it was a #1 in Bohol, was in yellow sand it really chewed up our skin and clothing. Contaminated clothing to the point we had to throw the clothing away.
In the case of a #5 we simply flooded the tunnel full of water, this first pushed out all the fumes as all the air was pushed out by water, then the water absorbed up the remaining Cyanide and the contaminated water was pumped out.
In the case of the #4 which was a stack of gasoline fuel drums with a naval depth charge setting on top, it was my stupid idea to punch the drums and drain out the gasoline and also punch the depth charge and remove the explosive. Will I guess you learn by experience. The explosive in the depth charge was extremely toxic to handle and the powder was toxic. NEVER try to dump 500 gallons of old rancid oxidized gasoline into the ground. That poisoned the tunnel so much we had to abandon the tunnel and dig an entirely new tunnel down to the vault. The only way to handle the area was using a Class A chemical suit that was pressurized by an outside air pump. BTW there was mercury and oil oxide dumped inside the vault with the treasure drums. Again requiring a Class A suit.
#3 dead man traps. Probably the worse of the worse. Full of bacteria and fungus plus sulfur compounds and methane and ethane gas though probably not up to the explosive levels. Methane gas is explosive but has no odor. You can not smell it. If possible flood the tunnel, pump it out and then let it thoroughly dry out. At the least let it thoroughly ventilate. If you inhale the fungus and bacteria and it takes root in your lungs, there is a 80-90 percent chance you will die and the treatment is VERY expensive for a Filipino, I know we have been there and done that. The best device to purge a dead man trap is an ozone generator to pump ozone gas into the tunnel/chamber. This will oxidize the fungus and bacteria and kill it, will also neutralize a lot of the sulfur compounds.
#2 either wash it out or use a Class A chemical suit. No real way to neutralize it.
#1 ventilate it, ozone will have only a small effect on it.
Always use a blower and ventilation system for fresh air. When in doubt the lead working crew should have military surplus "gas" masks. Use a signal line either by electrical line and switch or at least a yank rope. It is nice to have a intercom line with mike and speaker on each end, head sets will work. Scuba tanks are a very nice plus. Remember under excitement an 80cu tank may only last you about 18 minutes or less pending your size and activity. Scuba tanks won't work for working diggers. You can use Scuba masks when you run a compressed airline all the way in from the outside. We have done all of these combination's.
Just small experience with this mess, you will most always find new combination's and problems out there.
Z
