OTTAWA: A 25-year-old Indian student died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning after a car was left running in the garage of a home in Canada's Ontario province, media reports said.
Emergency services responded to a report of a gas leak at a home in Kitchener city early on Tuesday and found dangerously elevated carbon monoxide (CO) levels, according to the Waterloo Regional Police.
The source of the carbon monoxide was determined to be a vehicle left running in the residence's garage, police said on Tuesday.
They found seven individuals suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning and transported them to a hospital.
One of them was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to the police.
The victim was a recently graduated international student from India, according to Don Patel, a family friend, CTV News reported.
Patel said the victim, whose name was not publicly released by his family, was the first person in the home to wake up on Tuesday morning.
"He came down. He heard some noise," he said.
"As soon as he opened the garage door, the inhalation of the stuff made him just collapse right there," the report quoted him as saying.
"He's an only child here. He came four years ago. Now the parents are back home in India," Patel said.
Speaking of the bereaved family, he said, "They cannot stop crying. They're thinking: 'How can this happen? Why my son?'"
Patel and others are working with the coroner and the Indian consulate to ensure the 25-year-old's body is returned to India as soon as possible.
"To wait for a week or ten days to receive their loved one, it is heartbreaking, so we are trying to work with all the authorities we can," he said.
According to Deputy Fire Chief Chris Davidson, no working carbon monoxide alarms were found in the home, even though it is mandatory to have working fire and carbon monoxide alarms in every home in Ontario.
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