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2 Rogers Park women dead; CO leak investigated
Updated: January 28, 2013 11:22AM
Authorities are investigating whether a carbon monoxide leak in a Rogers Park apartment building led to two deaths there Sunday afternoon.
Paramedics were initially called to the five-unit apartment building in the 2500 block of North Shore Avenue at 10:39 a.m. to respond to a person in cardiac arrest, Fire Media Affairs spokeswoman Meg Ahlheim said.
They took that woman to Swedish Covenant Hospital in critical condition, Ahlheim said.
While at the building, they found another woman who was sick and took her in serious condition, also to Swedish Covenant.
Rasheeda Akhter, 77, and Zanib Ahmed, 18, were both pronounced dead at the hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, which added that both lived at the building. Autopsies for Akhter and Ahmed are scheduled for Monday.
Crews took carbon monoxide meters into the building but found no reading of the gas in any of the units, Ahlheim said.
Emergency crews left but were called back to the building about 3:45 p.m. on reports that another woman had become unconscious, according to Ahlheim. She was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston in critical condition.
Six children from the building were taken by family members to St. Francis Hospital, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said. One of the children was later transferred to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for treatment for carbon monoxide poisioning.
Again crews used carbon monoxide meters throughout the building and found none in any apartment unit. They did register carbon monoxide readings next to a basement water tank but not a significant amount that would have required evacuating the building, Ahlheim said.
Crews ventilated the building and called Peoples Gas to fix the boiler, Ahlheim said.
Peoples Gas spokeswoman Jennifer Block confirmed the utility’s crews responded to the building but declined to comment further. Block said the utility is supporting police and fire officials in their investigation.
