46 Hospitalized After Hotel Gas Leak

Nearly four dozen people were taken to a hospital, at least 15 of them in critical condition, after carbon monoxide leaked inside a hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Tuesday, but no fatalities are expected, officials say. John Lane, chief of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, says emergency crews were called to the hotel when an automatic alarm showed there was carbon monoxide gas, the AP reports. He says the leak originated in the hotel's boiler room. Lane says 52 people, including staff, were at the hotel. Steve Brglez, acting platoon chief, says 15 of the patients are listed as critical because of high carbon monoxide readings in their blood.

"They were transported critical based on that reading and other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, a decrease in level consciousness," Brglez says. Some of the patients will probably be released from hospitals within a few hours while others could be held overnight, Brglez says. Justin Schinkel, owner of the Super 8 hotel, tells the Winnipeg Free Press that the building recently passed a fire inspection. "It's the worst imaginable feeling, all of a sudden, something bad like this happens, you don't know the extent of it," Schinkel says. "We're just super happy that the first responders are so helpful and they've been able to get here so quick and help us out here."

(More Winnipeg stories.)