One dead, four injured in Saguenay after carbon monoxide floods home
Saguenay Canada Feb 23 2019 A man in his 60s is dead and four people are in a hospital after falling victim on Thursday to carbon monoxide poisoning in a residence in the Saguenay region.
Three of the four injured are Saguenay public security officers who were overcome while answering a call at the home in La Baie.
A woman living in the home had called authorities to report she had found her husband unconscious near two vehicles parked in the home’s garage. The 69-year-old man was declared dead at the scene.
Saguenay firefighters deployed at the home found the levels of carbon monoxide to be extremely high. Soon after, the wife of the victim was taken to a hospital. She was later transferred to a hyperbaric chamber at a Quebec City hospital because of the high levels of carbon monoxide in her system.
The three public security officers who responded to the call were sent to a hospital, one of them also being transferred to Quebec City for hyperbaric treatment. One officer was released from the hospital in Saguenay Thursday night while the other remained under observation.
While the incident remains under investigation, police suspect the engine of one of the vehicles was running while the garage doors were closed, triggering the poisoning. However when firefighters arrived at the scene the engines of both vehicles were shut down.
Investigators are not considering the death a suicide, although an autopsy may help determine what happened.
Carbon monoxide gas is odourless, colourless and highly toxic.
