One person was killed and 28 others were rushed to hospitals after they were exposed to carbon monoxide at a mall on New York's Long Island, police said Saturday night.
Suffolk County police said most of the victims were employees of a seafood restaurant at Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station on Long Island.
Emergency crews were called just after 6 p.m. after a woman fell and suffered a head injury. Rescuers felt lightheaded and determined that there was a carbon monoxide leak.
Steven Nelson, 55, manager of Legal Sea Foods, was killed, and a second person was in critical condition, Andrea Golinsky, a spokeswoman for the Huntington Community First Aid Squad, told NBC New York.
The other victims — including several rescue and police personnel — were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at three hospitals, police said. A spokeswoman for Huntington Hospital told The Associated Press that most of the 10 people treated there had been released.
Golinsky said nine police officers and rescue squad members were among those overcome by the gas, which is colorless and odorless.
Parts of the mall were evacuated as investigators inspected the heating system in the basement, authorities said.
— M. Alex Johnson and Azhar Fateh
