Three die in sealed house

Oct 08, 2009 News

… left generator on while sleeping

A woman, her daughter and grandson are believed to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning after they went to bed Monday evening, leaving a generator running in the house.
Ironically, their deaths came the very night they held a thanksgiving service to celebrate moving into their new home hours earlier.
It was a tragic end to the dream of 54-year-old Verbina Garraway, who always desired to live in her own home with her seven-year-old grandson, Orette Garraway, whom she brought up from the time of his birth, and her daughter, Abiola Josiah, 24. They all died some time between Monday evening and Tuesday.
Josiah, an audit officer with the Guyana Revenue Authority, was planning to get married in the coming months.
They all moved into the incomplete house at Parfait/Harmonie, West Bank Demerara on Monday. That evening, Garraway invited the leader of her church, Reverend Chichester, to offer thanks to God for their lives and for blessing them with a new home.
“She was a quite person, and the new house was her dream come through,” the Reverend told Kaieteur News.
When all the guests had left, the family retired to bed.
On Tuesday morning, the construction workers who were completing the house received no answer to their calls and left. All the doors and windows were closed. The house has no other ventilation other than through the doors and windows when these are opened.
When Josiah’s fiancé and her friends tried to contact her on Tuesday, there was still no response. Yesterday morning, the construction workers returned; again there was still no response to their calls. However, there was a smell of gasoline, and upon further investigation, a grass cutter who was nearby decided to break the bedroom window and made the gruesome discovery.
By this time the police had been summoned. Josiah’s fiancé has summoned a friend who in turn had called the police.
Garraway and her daughter were lying on the bed, lifeless, while the young Orette, was lying dead on the bedroom floor.
The generator was left on in the bathroom which is adjoined to the bedroom. It is suspected that the trio died from the carbon monoxide that emitted from the generator which was left on to supposedly provide light and power a fan.
There was no way by which the carbon monoxide emitted from the generator could have escaped, as the house was sealed. A relative said that even the openings beneath the doors were blocked up, because the family was afraid of any snakes entering their domicile.
Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colourless and toxic gas that is generated by unvented generators and other gasoline powered equipment. Because it is impossible to see, taste or smell the toxic fumes, CO can kill before one is aware it is in your home. Death is preceded by a light-headed feeling due to oxygen starvation. The gas attaches itself to the red blood cells and suffocates them.
The family had lived at Bagotville, West Bank Demerara for years, but made the fateful decision to move into their new home, Monday.

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Three die in sealed house

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