Alice Springs: 12-Year-Old Boy Dies After ‘Sniffing’ Cans Of Deodorant At Billy Goat Hill


In news from Alice Springs, Australia, a 12-year-old boy has tragically died after allegedly sniffing a number of cans of deodorant while with a group of friends hanging out at the well-known Billy Goat Hill Park.

Bob Harrison, the Northern Territory Police superintendent, told reporters, according to Ntnews, that the boy was found unconscious by an officer at the Coles shopping complex in the town at around 8:15 pm on Saturday night.

Harrison said, “His attention was directed towards a person collapsed near the Discount Chemist. He checked for vital signs. Finding none, he commenced CPR. [Paramedics] conveyed the young fellow to hospital but unfortunately he passed away.”

The police superintendent added that the young boy had “consumed” a couple of cans of deodorant earlier that night at Billy Goat Hill.

“We received information from a security guard that they’d spotted about eight young people sniffing cans near the hill. Unfortunately without pre-empting the coroner’s findings and the autopsy we believe this contributed to the death of this 12-year-old.”

According to Harrison as per a report in The Australian, death from sniffing deodorant is extremely rare, even though it does happen.

“Going back through my memory I can’t recall another [death] in relation to aerosol cans. Yes it is [prevalent] in the centre of Australia but I can’t think myself of a previous death,” he said.

The Coles stores in Alice Springs, which sells such inhalable products as deodorant, released a statement to the press confirming they had removed products from their shelves, saying the company, “has already ordered a display cabinet which will restrict access to aerosols liable to solvent abuse” for its Alice Springs store.

But according to Tristan Ray from the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service. young people are pressuring others to sniff sprays such as deodorant,

“You see one or two kids [sniffing] but then suddenly they’re influencing other kids and it just becomes what that they do when they’re together. They do it because they’re trying to have fun. Some young people do it because they’re hungry, when you sniff it you can feel better,” he said.

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