USVI-On-Line

Today's NewsJournal has a story of a family of four being airlifted home after being poisoned at a villa in Sirenusa and are being hospitalized in critical condition. The four had seizures during the night, their lungs stopped working and they had to be intubated. This is awful! The EPA is investigating. the chemicals the family was exposed to "bio-accumulated and metabolized until it became an acute poisoning,''

Pat, thanks. I just googled the article - very, very scary.

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/new ... /70332404/

Please keep us updated. I couldn't find anything online yet from my favorite local STJ news websites

Prayers to the family

Wow, that is terrifying and I hope the family is ok!

Terrible news and I hope the family recovers quickly.

Assuming the rumors regarding methyl bromide are true and without knowing much about its availability, who on STJ would have the need to use something this toxic? Is there a common use for it on an island like STJ? Are chemicals like methyl bromide easy to purchase?

I certainly hope this is an isolated incident and use of this stuff isn't a common occurrence.

methyl bromide is regulated (highly) for use in some agricultural settings -- it is NOT a pesticide for interior use.
how it got there and was used this way is a huge question

I checked with Todd, our "Bug Guy", and methyl bromide is normally only used to fumigate against insects that live inside wood, such as Powder Post Beetles and Drywood Termites. I have heard that Terminix from St. Thomas may have done the work. Methyl bromide is a gas, and will penetrate everywhere. It may have been absorbed by furniture cushions, etc. I have never heard of it being used on St. John. It is illegal in most of the world, but the US still allows a few special use exemptions. It will be totally phased out here by 2017 (mostly because it destroys ozone in the upper atmosphere), but if not properly used it can injure and even kill.

We pay attention to insect control, and use both behavioral traps and some insecticides, but these are either pyrethrin (a natural product derived from Chrysanthemum leaves), or pyrethroids, which are synthetic close relatives of pyrethrin. All are harmless to mammals. I was surprised when I read the ingredients for all of the insect control solutions at St. John Hardware. "Where do you keep the "good stuff"", I asked. There is none; pyrethrin and pyrethroids are all they offer.

I wonder if the nature of a place like Sirenusa encourages overly aggressive insect control. Most of us know that this being the tropics, if you leave food out, even crumbs, there will be ants. Those high-end units might draw folks who are new to the island, and who consider ants after crumbs an unacceptable situation, leaving in a huff, and leading to extreme measures such as this one, with far too little air-out time before the next guests arrive. Mere speculation, though...

All the best,

Kevin

Condition of the family today...
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/new ... /70332404/

This is the Villa that the family was staying at according to the news article
http://newsofstjohn.com/2015/02/13/market-villa-capri/

It's sad that villa owners are so concerned about their guests seeing a bug that it they find it necessary to spray these places with pesticide. However, there are safer products.

We use no pesticides in our home, but we do have the occasionally creepy crawler. If you visit a tropical island, you should be tolerant of a few bugs. If I rented a villa and saw no indication of any "wildlife", I would be concerned about what chemicals were being used.

If you see no lizard shit in your villa, whatever chemicals are being used have killed the lizards.

The VI Daily News just provided an update on the family that was poisoned at Sirenusa, and the news is not good. More than a week after being taken to local hospitals, and then airlifted to a hospital back home, three of the four family members remain in critical condition. This extremely irresponsible use of poisonous chemicals has led to a horrible tragedy. Our hearts go out to the family, and we hope that they can somehow return to health.

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/ ... -1.1855094

Remarkably, the chemical was actually used in the empty unit next to the one the Esmonds were staying in. How incredibly toxic!

Kevin

Thanks Coconuts. This is heartbreaking. We know the Mother/dentist. Live close to her office. I know the boys are at Children's hospital, so you can't any better treatment than there.

Good thing nobody was in the unit next to them that was sprayed.

It sounds so weird that this is the only time something like this happened if this chemical was around Terminix.

This story is on CNN news this morning and and the website. The Justice Department has started a criminal investigation and the family is still hospitalized in Philadelphia. The two children are still in critical condition. Hopefully, everyone will recover.

I found this looking around. So many people are being affected by this.

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/ ... -1.1857983

It's even worse than we feared. It has now been over two weeks since the family was poisoned, for merely being in the unit next to the one where this hellish gas was unleashed. While the mother has been released from the hospital, and the father has "regained consciousness", their two sons "still have not awakened".

What a complete and total tragedy, from what should have simply been a delightful family vacation...

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/new ... /70783754/

Kevin

It wasn't the unit next to them but the unit under them. All buildings but one at sirenusa are two units, upper and lower. Villa Capri where the family was staying was at one time the site painters spray shop.