Gas Probe In Chinese Restaurant Tragedy

Freezing winter weather coupled with a failed power supply and inadequate ventilation may have claimed a further fumes' victim.

The indications today are that the death of a man found collapsed at the rear of restaurant premises in Main Street, Irvinestown, had been caused by fumes.

The body of a man was discovered yesterday at a Chinese restaurant just two weeks after a carbon monoxide incident claimed the lives of Killian Scallon and his wife Pauline at their home in the town.

Last summer, the same toxic gas also killed two teenagers, Newtownabbey friends Neil McFerran and Aaron Davidson, who died at a holiday apartment in Castlerock.

Police said they received a report from the ambulance service shortly before 2.30pm that a body was discovered at the rear of the property.

The dead man is believed to have been in his late 20s and of Asian origin with Health and Safety Executive NI officials now investigating after it was reported that there had been a problem with the power to the premises and that a generator was being used.

BBC NI reported that PSNI Inspector Roy Robinson said: "Because of the generator running...........it is most likely that it may have been carbon monoxide poisoning.

"We still have to wait for the forensic results to determine how he died, but that is the line of inquiry we are looking at."

Very cold weather may have meant the dead man had closed any available ventilation to conserve heat and that he was slowly asphyxiated by the deadly fumes coming from the generator.

(BMcC/GK)