Court Upholds Compensation in Case Involving Gas-Saving Stove Ring and 2 Deaths

A court in Shaanxi Province has upheld a compensation ruling in a case involving the deaths of a mother and her 16-year-old son after the family used a gas-stove flame-concentrating ring, Red Star News has reported.

Yulin Intermediate People's Court issued its second-instance judgment on September 2, upholding an April 2025 ruling by a lower court. The ruling assigned 30 percent of the responsibility to the victims and their family, 40 percent to the producer and 30 percent to the seller. The online platform was held jointly liable.

The family had rented a one-story house in a county in Yulin. The mother worked at a local supermarket, while the father had left home for a transport job. On December 25, 2023, supermarket staff called the father to say his wife had not reported for work. A teacher then said the younger son had not attended school. A landlord broke into the home and found both dead.

A police report said the mother and son died from natural-gas poisoning, while the specific cause remained under investigation. The father later suspected a flame-concentrating ring, also called a windproof cover, that he had bought online in November 2023. He said the product's sales image promised to cut gas use by half and that he paid 4.5 yuan (67 US cents) for it.

Tests conducted by relatives and the family's lawyer found that methane levels did not reach the detector's default alarm threshold within 10 minutes without the ring. With the ring installed, the detector reached its low alarm level after 4 minutes.

Home surveillance footage showed the younger son apparently losing consciousness about 8pm on December 24 after studying. The mother was found with her feet still soaking. The father said she usually soaked her feet before bed, had cooked meat and boiled water that evening, and that the gas flame was still on when the landlord entered the next day.

The judgment said a same-day inspection by the local gas company found no leaks at the gas-meter connection, pipeline interface or other gas facilities. The father said that, around December 9, shortly after the ring was installed, he, his wife and their son had experienced dizziness, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. His wife had also complained that the home smelled as if something had burned.

The dead family's relatives, the producer, the seller and the platform all appealed. Lawyer Ge Yuan said the producer and seller should bear more responsibility and that the family might seek further review.

According to reports from Xinhua, gas companies and safety experts have warned that such rings can obstruct air entering a burner, causing incomplete combustion and excessive carbon monoxide.