Church youth treated for carbon monoxide

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP) — A Jamestown Hospital spokesman says about 30 young people attending a church conference were taken to the hospital after they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes.

A pastor at the First Congregational Church called the Stutsman County Dispatch Center at 8:30 a.m., Friday, to report 10 students vomiting and others extremely ill.

Fire Chief Jim Reuther says firefighters went to the church and found dangerous carbon monoxide levels within a few feet of the entrance.

Hospital spokesman Bill Kennedy said four of the young people were flown to Minneapolis to be placed in special high pressure units that can speed the excretion of toxins from the body. Their conditions were not immediately available.

Reuther says that if the students had been exposed to the fumes much longer, the result could have been "a much worse scenario."

Crews have been working to find the source of the gas.