VIC:Vic mum feared boys would die in arms

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2011
VIC:Vic mum feared boys would die in arms

MELBOURNE, April 18 AAP - A mother feared her two sons would die in her arms after
they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes during a boat trip.

The parents performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the boys, who became sick after
one of the boat's engines failed, as the family headed back to shore on Sunday after a
day out on Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay.

The boys, aged seven and eight, had been sitting in the cabin when their parents noticed
something was wrong.

Julie Howick went to check on the boys, initially believing they had fallen asleep,
but when she couldn't rouse them, she dragged them to the top deck of the boat and started
mouth-to-mouth.

"Scary doesn't even begin to cover it," Ms Howick told reporters on Monday.

"I thought both of them were going to die in my arms last night."

Paramedic Lisa Pliksh said the boys were conscious and breathing when paramedics met
the boat on Sunday night at Bonbeach.

They were taken to Frankston Hospital in a stable condition.

Ms Pliksh said carbon monoxide was the likely cause of the boys' illness.

"We suspect the boys may have been exposed to carbon monoxide fumes as one of the engines
had failed," she said.

"The boys were incredibly lucky the parents weren't in the same confined space as them.

"The parents weren't affected and were able to make sure the boys were safe.

"They have done a great job in making sure the boys were breathing and getting them
to shore as safely as they could."

Ms Howick said she didn't think of carbon monoxide fumes as being the cause of the
illness until it was suggested by ambulance crews.

"I kept thinking it was something they'd eaten. It didn't even occur to me until we
got into the ambulance and they had made that assumption."

AAP mn/ajw

KEYWORD: BOYS WRAP

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