Carbon monoxide leak hospitalizes 22 in Coronado

CORONADO — Twenty-two people were hospitalized Friday morning for carbon monoxide exposure after two children fainted at a Coronado church, officials said. The two children fainted and a third felt ill during a morning Mass inside Sacred Heart Catholic Church shortly after 9 a.m. Emergency crews took 17 children and five adults to local hospitals. The church, on the corner of C Avenue and Seventh Street, was evacuated, and the other children who had been inside were walked across the street to the church school. Emergency crews determined that the 22 people had high levels of carbon monoxide in their system, said Coronado Fire Chief E. John Traylor. “We still don’t know the source of the CO exposure,” he said. Today was the last day of school for the 250 Sacred Heart students. The school has classes for kindergarten through eighth grade. The Rev. Michael Murphy said he was in the middle of Mass when the two students, who were sitting in a pew in the middle of the church, fainted. Murphy said students complained of headaches, nausea and weakness. Read the entire Union Tribune story here.