Virginia Tech students seeking normalcy after last spring’s shootings suffered yet another blow Sunday when 23 were evacuated from an off-campus apartment building, all suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Four of the five most affected students are from the Washington area, said BlacksburgPolice Captain Bruce Bradbery.
The five women, all 19-year-old sophomores, were in an apartment with a malfunctioning hot water heater, according to preliminary investigation. The five were unconscious when rescued, Bradbery said.
Kirsten Wendie Halik of Vienna and Kristin L. Julia of Ashburn were both upgraded to serious condition at the University of Virginia Hospital Monday evening, according to the Associated Press.
Elizabeth Amanda Bergin, of Ashburn; Carolyn Ann Dorman, of Potomac; and Nichole Marie Howarth, of Chesterfield, Va., are all conscious and alert, listed in stable condition at Duke University Medical Center in Durham.
The other students were all released from Blacksburg-area hospitals by Monday, Bradbery said.
The leak was discovered within an hour of a ceremony dedicating a new memorial to the 32 victims of the April 16 shootings on the Virginia Tech campus.
“There seems to be a resiliency and spirit here holding them all together,” Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said of the students. “It’s amazing to witness.”
On Monday, 12 apartments remained closed to their residents, pending an investigation by Blacksburg police and a building inspection, said Blacksburg Police Captain Bruce Bradbery.
The five women still hospitalized on Monday were receiving treatments in hyperbaric chambers, the same assistance given to deep-water divers stricken with the bends.
The treatment floods the patients’ bodies with oxygen, said Dr. Chris Holstege, who leads the University of Virginia Hospital’s medical toxicology division. Victims of carbon monoxide poisoning are unable to process oxygen to their cells and organs, he said.
The main concern with carbon monoxide poisoning is its impact on the brain, Holstege told The Examiner. Holstege was not treating any of the five women and could not speak to their specific cases.
Doctors use the treatment to prevent damage, Holstege said, though its benefits are debated. There is no harm in the treatment, he said.
Residents living above the women’s apartment reported a possible leak to the gas company Sunday morning, Bradbery said. When police arrived, residents and the gas company employee were helping evacuate apartments, he said.
