Silke Jasso
First responders rushed to a Quality Inn and Suites in Niles, Michigan, after children were found unconscious poolside due to carbon-monoxide poisoning.
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One child, identified as 13-year-old Bryan Douglas Watts, has died.
According to ABC News at the time of this writing, six other children were found unconscious and taken to the hospital.
Memorial Hospital of South Bend in Indiana is treating nine patients, eight children and one adult. ABC reports that two of the children are in serious condition, and five are listed in fair condition. Another child has been treated and released.
A total of 15 people were taken to area hospitals from the hotel.
One person dead and 13 hospitalized after being found unconscious around a Michigan hotel's indoor pool. https://t.co/Ws5UrRNnRs pic.twitter.com/anlrDPySM5
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) April 1, 2017
Fire Department Capt. Don Wise said that the cause of the carbon-monoxide leak was a broken pool heater. The children affected were ages 12 to 14.
The entire hotel had to be evacuated.
Wise said first responders didn’t hesitate to rush in despite extremely dangerous conditions.
“When we first went in with our [air] monitors, the monitors went off,” he said. “All the responders took a little bit more risk, but we had to get those kids out of there and into fresh air for their best chance at survival.”
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He said the carbon-monoxide reading was 800 parts per million, calling it “an extreme danger level.”
“At those levels, they don’t have much time before they’re going to go unresponsive,” he said.
We’ll update this story when we learn more.
