MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Nine people have been transported to the hospital after they were exposed to carbon monoxide at a Miami Beach hotel.
Miami Beach Fire Rescue crews responded to the Shore Club Hotel, located along 19th Street and Collins Avenue, at around 7:30 a.m., Thursday.
7SkyForce HD flew over the scene where rescue crews could be seen treating other people near the hotel’s pool area.
Crews transported nine hotel employees to Mercy Hospital out of an abundance of caution, and eight other employees were treated and released at the scene. Fire officials said all of the employees that were transported were alert.
There were reports made of a water leak in a pump room by the pool, and after the pump was shut off was when high levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the area.
“Carbon monoxide poisoning, some people are asymptomatic, meaning there are no symptoms with it, but some people get dizzy, some people get headaches, some people feel light, winded or generally just feeling sick to their stomach,” said Miami Beach Fire Chief Jorge Linares. “Most of the time, it’s headaches and dizziness, so they have been transported as an abundance of caution to local area hospitals that treat that type of exposure.”
Hotel officials said the leak was a result of an equipment malfunction that has been repaired, and everything at the hotel returned to normal operations by noon.
“We suspected it was carbon monoxide poisoning coming from one of the lower industrial rooms,” Linares said.
Officials said the hotel remains open, as the affected area is in the kitchen.
A small area of the hotel was evacuated for safety.
Shore Club Hotel issued a letter to guests that read, “Early this morning, Shore experienced an equipment malfunction near the pool area. As a precautionary measure, a small number of employees were taken to the hospital for observation. We expect the restaurant to open for business as soon as we are cleared by the City of Miami Beach.”
No guests were injured.
“When we came out, we saw the caution tape, basically like quarantining the hotel, and when we asked people what was going on, they said that we just can’t go by the pool area, so we went past it and went for our run, but they didn’t tell us what was going on,” said hotel guest Zain Mahmud.
Some guests at the hotel said the morning commotion at the pool was not an issue for them.
“I still feel like the hotel did a good job of letting us know,” guest David Pochinco said. “I mean, I can only imagine what they had to deal with.”
All of the people transported to the hospital are expected to be OK, fire officials said.
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