Five Die Of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In Washington, D.C., Suburb

Five Salvadoran immigrants died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning Tuesday in a home in Oxon Hill, Md., according to The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/five-killed-in-oxon-hill-home-by-apparent-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/2012/04/24/gIQArPHefT_story.html

The son of one of the five victims discovered their bodies in the brick house they dwelled in, which is located in a suburb of Washington, D.C. The bodies were strewn around the house on Shelby Drive.

Authorities in Prince George’s County are blaming a a carbon monoxide leak, from a rusted exhaust pipe that separated from a natural gas furnace, for the deaths, according to The Post. Police told the paper that the pipe, which is supposed to ventilate the carbon monoxide that results from the combustion of gas in the furnace, deteriorated as it aged.

Firefighters detected carbon monoxide levels of 140 parts per million at the front door of the home, The Post reported. That compares to the zero to 5 parts per million that is considered normal and the the 30 parts per million that can kill. Inside the house, the carbon monoxide level went as high a s560 parts per million, according to The Post.

The victims were identified as Oscar Chavez, 57, Sonia Maribel Leiva, 54, Nora Leiva, 57, Francisco Javier Gomez Segovia, 33, and Nelson Enrique Landaverde Alas, 44. The Post reported. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

The group included a married couple, the sister of the wife, and two male family friends.