A COCKTAIL of potentially lethal chemicals left a man with burns and breathing problems after a mixture of cleaning liquids was poured into a blocked sink.
Hazard teams were called to Ivy Lane in Headington, Oxford, at 2.42pm on Monday.
A resident had attempted to unblock the sink with chemicals the night before. A cleaner then unwittingly added bleach to the mix, causing noxious fumes to fill the kitchen. He suffered breathing problems and burns but was able to drive himself to hospital.
Firefighters wearing gas suits entered the flat and identified chemicals which had combined to produce deadly chlorine gas.
The firefighters were decontaminated and more crews were sent in to remove the mixture before it was disposed of safely.
A spokesman for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said : “All packaging on household products should be read before they are used, adding: “No mixing of chemicals, particularly bleaches and unblockers, should ever take place as potentially toxic and corrosive mixtures can be created.”
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