NY- A hot summer day and an afternoon on the water nearly turned tragic. Several people were hospitalized after being overcome by carbon monoxide in a boat.
It was a danger no one aboard this Cabin Cruiser could see, hear or smell. Passengers on the 35-foot Vessel started feeling sick and two boys passed out. The apparent cause was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Unfortunately there was a leak in the exhaust, said James Dalton of the FDNY Marine Division. Everyone was overcome.
A distress call alerted FDNY marine unit officers who found the boat on the Brooklyn side of Gateway National Recreation Area. A total of nine people were rescued. The boat was taken to a U.S. Park Police dock near Fort Tilden.
The patients went to three different hospitals. One adult and two children went to Jacobi Medical Center. Three children were taken to Coney Island Hospital. And an adult and two children went to Peninsula Hospital.
All injuries are being called minor and everyone is expected to recover but this case shows carbon monoxide poisoning happens on water as well as on land.
On Thursday, an un-vented generator turned a Mastic Beach Long Island home into a death trap. Several members of the Cassaberry family got sick, and 19-year-old Emmanuel Cassaberry died.
It breaks my heart to think that something like this can happen nowadays, said a neighbor.
The Mastic Beach incident happened after LIPA turned off the power because of delinquent payments. What was different about the apparent poisoning on this boat and for the two boys found unconscious on it was the quick action of rescuers who immediately administered oxygen and performed CPR.