Carbon monoxide leak sends nine Amsterdammers to hospital

Nine residents of a building on Sumatrastraat in Amsterdam Oost were hospitalized during the early hours of Tuesday morning due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Their condition is not life threatening, AT5 reports.

Around 1:10 a.m. one resident on the third floor of the building felt ill and call the emergency services. Upon arrival firefighters immediately realized that something was wrong and evacuated all 14 residents of the building. Several ambulances responded and checked over all residents of the building. Nine were eventually hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning. Among the residents are children.

The culprit turned out to be two inoperative boilers on the third and fourth floors of the building. The fire department removed all boilers in the building until the housing association can continue the investigation. The residents that were not hospitalized were allowed to return home.

The fire department decided to check a property on Molukkenstraat as a precaution. When the occupant did not respond to knocking, firefighters forced the door. It turned out the occupant was just a heavy sleeper. Several measurements showed no evidence of carbon monoxide poisoning.