one in ten households in america owns a boat and no doubt they’re getting a lot of use this summer everyone knows to use life jackets to stay safe but as amber cagliano reports there is an invisible danger you might not know about during this scorching summer there’s no better way to beat the heat than boating but could a deadly invisible killer be lurking that people are unaware of carbon monoxide 911 where is your emergency we’re on east fork lake a girl jumped in she did not have a life jacket on and she’s not surfaced yet no the boat was running and we think the carbon monoxide made her pass out 21 year old university of cincinnati soccer player ali sidlowski had been hanging on the ladder near the engine and never resurfaced according to the coroner ali drowned after being exposed to toxic fumes there have been 46 carbon monoxide deaths on boats in the last decade according to the u.s coast guard but experts we spoke with say that number may be higher since they can often be mistaken for drownings we had no idea that it was even possible even in all the years that we had spent at the lake and had a boat of our own we brought together four families whose loved ones were poisoned by carbon monoxide while boating raise your hand if you have had a horrible experience with carbon monoxide on your boat unbelievable he went to sleep and that was that was it doug and chrissy taylor say their seven-year-old son afton fell overboard after inhaling too much exhaust fumes while sitting near the engine for an entire month we thought our son drowned and we just knew there was no way i mean you could swim how did you not hear him he was the child in our home that just kept us so together he was our guy that just you know every morning would wake up and say you know i hope you guys have a great day i love you guys jessie groban and her brother cullen say their sister died of similar circumstances in texas they say 26 year old lindsay was on the ladder at the back of a friend’s boat near the running engine when she disappeared it said that she died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning and we were just all looking at each other and i think i said but she was outside and cassie freeze says she was just as shocked when she lost her young son andy last year andy had been swimming since he was a baby you know he was a year old when he went tubing he was two years old knee boarding and he shouldn’t have died donovan chilton says it also happened to his son thankfully he survived you never think it’s going to happen to you he would sit back there and never in your mind do you think carbon monoxide so how can you get carbon monoxide poisoning on a boat out in all that fresh air it could be a very calm humid day and carbon monoxide can collect in places that you wouldn’t expect john 80 is the president of the american boat and yacht council today he’s urging voters to know about the rare but real risks of carbon monoxide poisoning on boats using this special carbon monoxide detector he showed us how carbon monoxide gas can build up especially on the back of older boats with inboard engines that he says are less effective at diffusing it let’s put it in the exhaust stream and see what happens here we have your definite co obviously and if i move it up and it’s starting to dissipate very rapidly we’re down down to 40. just a few steps and you could be in the clear zone absolutely since the gas is odorless and invisible it’s crucial you spot the warning signs headaches nausea and blurred vision if you’re starting to feel nauseous or a headache or things just don’t feel right then move position on the boat or try to get the captain to change the direction while these kinds of incidents are rare the cdc also says if you’re swimming near your vote avoid the back where the engines vent Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJnaBK5A-4Q
