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CO poisoning sends 16 to Ottawa hospital

Dec. 1, 2014, Ottawa - Carbon monoxide poisoning is being blamed for 16 hockey players ending up in an Ottawa hospital on the weekend.

Queensway-Carleton Hospital says the patients are all young people in their early 20s and late teens who came in reporting stomach problems early Sunday.

At least 13 of the patients have since been released from hospital.

The father of one patient says they had been playing in a three-on-three hockey tournament at the Complete Hockey Development Centre for several hours Saturday.

He says the players starting feeling ill and had asked an arena employee to open the air vents, which were closed.

Ottawa fire spokesman Marc Messier says that by the time crews arrived to the arena at around 2 a.m, there was no carbon monoxide detected but at least some of the patients had been poisoned by the gas.

He says it may have been vented out of the building by the time firefighters arrived.

"We're still investigating the source of the carbon monoxide and taking measures to correct it," Messier said.

He says the hockey centre was back to normal operations Sunday but officials continued to monitor the air.

December 1, 2014 
By The Canadian Press