Posted: May 20, 2008 3:18 p.m.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Three people died after refrigerated gas leaked from a shipping container on a cargo ship at Florida’s Port Everglades, authorities said Tuesday.
Broward County sheriff’s officials say the three Florida Transportation Services employees were found unresponsive early Tuesday after emergency workers received a call early Tuesday about the leak in an argon gas container. Argon is a colorless, odorless gas. Although it’s not toxic, it can cause suffocation in a contained space.
The shipping container is in a secured area of the Fort Lauderdale port.
The medical examiner’s office will determine the exact cause of death. The victims were 47-year-old Hayman Sooknanan of Oakland Park; 43-year-old James Cason of Fort Lauderdale; and 25-year-old Rene Robert Dutertre Jr. of Wilton Manors.
A woman who answered a phone at the company refused to comment.
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