LI Worker Dies From 'Apparent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning': PD

FORT SALONGA, NY — A construction worker died while at a residential job site on Tuesday afternoon on Long Island from what police are calling apparent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Victor Irizarry, a Suffolk Excavating employee, was working for about 15 minutes to remove silt from the bottom of a drainage pipe about 10-feet into the ground at a home on Fort Salonga Road, when he stopped responding to co-workers at about 2:35 p.m., Suffolk police said. A co-worker tried to go down the pipe to rescue him, but "felt burning in his nose and throat" and it forced him to get out of the pipe, according to police.

The Kings Park Fire Department responded and "found carbon monoxide levels to be dangerously high" but firefighters were able to pull Irizarry from the pipe, police said.

Irizarry, 30, of Flanders, was taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown where he was pronounced dead. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified and is investigating the incident, police said.

Police did not release any further details.