West Auckland house rescue: They were lying motionless in the hallway

A neighbour who rescued three people from certain death by carbon monoxide poisoning has revealed those inside the West Auckland home had collapsed trying to revive each other with water.

Glendene man Krish Patel told the Herald he got a desperate call from a young woman who lived at the house saying her husband and his parents had mysteriously dropped to the floor.

Patel, who rushed over to the Barrys Rd property he part-owns, said he walked in to find three people lying motionless.

Two men were in the hallway and a woman was in the living room.

"She asked can you come over, everyone is unconscious and falling down in my house."

"When I went there three people were lying on the floor. The old man was half-awake and half-asleep lying in the hallway."

Moments later the woman also collapsed in his wife's arms.

Patel said he rang emergency services and then started to drag the unconscious family to safety. Unable to lift the older woman from the living room he started to get air through the house not realising how grave the situation was.

"I didn't know how serious it was. She just told me everybody is falling down."

"It was shocking when I saw them on the floor. There was the dad and the son with water next to them and I thought, 'Wow, what's happening there'," he said.

The woman had told him they had tried to rouse each other by splashing cold water on their skin before becoming dizzy and collapsing.

Patel said as air started to circulate through the house each person rallied.

"I didn't know there was a gas problem. There was no smell at all."

"As I opened the doors all of them started to come around."

All were taken to hospital for treatment. A Waitemata District Health Board spokesman said all four people have now been discharged.

Patel said the family had been using a charcoal barbecue to cook their evening meal before bringing the warm embers inside to heat the home.

The odourless deadly fumes from the barbecue were believed to have caused the near tragedy.

Nearly two years ago a mother and her three children died after they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in their Ashburton home after a car was left running to charge a battery in a connected garage.

Dangers of using charcoal barbecues indoors

• Charcoal grills can lead to life-threatening poisoning
• Carbon monoxide is formed from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing material
• Open windows and doors do not offer sufficient protection
• The risk of poisoning is severe because the gas can spread unnoticed around the room.

Source: German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment