Faulty pipe caused deadly W.Va. hotel gas leak
Feb 1, 2012, 4:37 PM
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Authorities in West Virginia are looking into how a pipe attached to a heating unit on a hotel’s indoor pool came apart, allowing deadly carbon monoxide fumes to escape.
A Rhode Island construction worker was found dead in his fifth-floor room Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in South Charleston along Corridor G.
Fire Capt. Virgil White says the pipe was supposed to remove exhaust from the natural gas unit and send it outdoors.
White says the pipe somehow became detached near the hotel’s fourth floor, sending the colorless, odorless gas through several floors.
He says the unit is being repaired Wednesday.
The hotel reopened to guests Tuesday night. White says another check of the hotel’s air quality was conducted “to give everybody a peace of mind.”
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