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Monroe, Utah • Nearly 50 people were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning Sunday after the toxic gas was detected in a south-central Utah meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
According to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office, emergency medical teams were called to the Monroe East chapel for two separate patients. The first was for a 4-year-old girl who was having breathing problems. She had been sick earlier in the week, so it was believed that she was experiencing lingering symptoms from that illness. About an hour later, emergency crews were called to the church again for a man who was feeling sick.
Later that day, family members reported that they all had headaches when they returned home from the church. The Monroe Fire Department then went to the building, where crews detected high levels of carbon monoxide. The building was evacuated.
Officials said that throughout Sunday evening, multiple people became sick and went to Sevier Valley Hospital in nearby Richfield to seek treatment. A church spokesperson said 54 people in total reported symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Of those, 49 were treated, and 22 of them needed to be transferred to other hospitals for further care.
A church statement said the leak was caused by a malfunction in the building’s heating system.
Nearly 50 people treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after leak in LDS meetinghouse (sltrib.com)
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