11-year-old Boy Dies In Blizzard From Carbon Monoxide Fumes In Massachusetts While Trapped In Snow Bank
An 11-year-old boy from Massachusetts died of carbon monoxide poising on Saturday as he sat in a running car to stay warm, while his father was shoveling to free it from a snow bank.
According to the Huffington Post, Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald stated that the boy was assisting his father with the shoveling of the snow in Dorchester, but it became too cold, so the father started the vehicle and the boy went inside it.
MacDonald said that the automobile exhaust was covered by a snow bank, which resulted in the deadly fumes collecting inside the car.
"I don't know how long the boy was in the car, at some point the father was still working and was unaware of the boy's condition. So very, very unfortunate," stated Boston firefighter Octavius Rowe, who lives close by and went to help.
When the boy was passed out from the dangerous fumes, the father went into respiratory arrest and emergency workers transported both of them to the Boston Medical Center, officials stated. The boy was pronounced dead at the hospital. However, no names have yet to be released.
Rowe stated that he was at his residence when he noticed a situation developing in the street. He went outside and found the father leaning against a pile of snow.
"I came over to the car where it all started and the father appeared to have lost consciousness. He was semi-conscious laying on the snow bank, and I wanted to first get him off that cold surface," he said.
Rowe then allegedly moved the man to a flat surface in order to revive him. He said that the boy had supposedly been taken into an apartment building where a woman was attempting CPR.
Paramedics from the fire department and Emergency Medical Services arrived and provided oxygen to the father in order to stabilize him.
"He was responsive so we were able to, at least, get him up, get him to the stairs. He did say, 'My son, my son,' so he knew his son was involved or was in distress," Rowe stated. "We were talking to him. He was moaning, but the only discernible thing that he said was 'My son.'"
According to Rowe's understanding, a snowplow had come up the street and pushed snow back onto the bank, which then impacted the car's exhaust pipe, resulting in the boy's death.
