Dozens dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in Algeria

ALGIERS, Jan 21, 2009 (AFP) - Dozens of people in Algeria have been asphyxiated by carbon monoxide from heaters in recent weeks as temperatures in the north African country plummeted, the government said on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of December, the country's civil protection agency said it had intervened 180 times, saving 343 people using heaters in badly ventilated homes, the APS news agency reported.

Another 66 people died, however.