FORT SALONGA, N.Y. (AP/WCBS 880) -- A construction worker died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning while working on a drainage pipe on Long Island, police said.
Victor Irizzary, 30, was removing silt from the bottom of a 10-foot-deep drainage pipe on Fort Salonga Road, near Spinnaker Court, in Fort Salonga around 2:35 p.m. Tuesday when he stopped responding to coworkers, Suffolk County police said.
A coworker tried to go down the pipe to rescue Irizarry, but he felt burning in his nose and throat and came back up, police said.
The Kings Park Fire Department responded and pulled Irizarry from the pipe.
The firefighters measured carbon monoxide levels in the pipe and found them to be dangerously high, police said.
Irizarry, of Flanders, was taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said Irizzary was working for Suffolk Excavating. Business owner Dean Roux said Wednesday he had no comment other than “We're grieving.”
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified and is investigating, police said.
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