Five teenagers have died in a motel room in southern Florida, in a case of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. The young men, aged 16 to 19, had left a car running in a garage below the room they had rented to celebrate one of the group’s 19th birthday. A door to a staircase leading to the garage was left open and high levels of carbon monoxide were found in the room. Police were called after a maid saw the unconscious bodies through a window. She reported a strong smell of petrol. “They’re all there, and they don’t respond,” the maid told the emergency services in Spanish. “They’re sprawled on the floor. I haven’t wanted to touch them. I’m scared.”
Friends of the teenagers told the Miami Herald newspaper that the car had needed a jump-start earlier in the day and might have been left running to keep the battery charged. Authorities do not suspect foul play. No drugs or alcohol were found in the room at the motel in Hialeah, outside Miami. – BBC
