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Three people released from hospital after N.B. carbon monoxide leak

Click to play video: 'Close call leads to demand for more carbon monoxide education in New Brunswick'
Close call leads to demand for more carbon monoxide education in New Brunswick
WATCH: The hospitalization of three people in a carbon monoxide poisoning incident in Saint John has led to calls for more education on the issue. Andrew Cromwell reports – Jan 2, 2018

A woman says her family no longer feels safe in their public housing unit in Saint John, N.B., after a carbon monoxide leak sent her daughter, sister and their caretaker to hospital in critical condition.

Jessica Sypher says the two girls and a family friend they call “papa” have been released from hospital after being airlifted to the Halifax facility to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.

READ: Most homeowners need educating on carbon monoxide detectors: survey

Sypher says she and her mother came back home on Friday night to find the 53-year-old man who was watching her four-year-old daughter and 11-year-old sister struggling to breath while an alarm beeped in the background.

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Unable to get inside, the 21-year-old woman says a neighbour helped kick down the door and they found the two girls unconscious as authorities arrived on the scene.

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WATCH: The dangers of carbon monoxide

Click to play video: 'The dangers of carbon monoxide'
The dangers of carbon monoxide

A platoon chief for the Saint John fire department has said about 30 people were evacuated from the complex and two other residents were sent to a local hospital for evaluation and later released.

READ MORE: 5 hospitalized after carbon monoxide leak in New Brunswick public housing unit

Sypher says the girls have been “traumatized” by the incident, and feels the provincial officials who run the six-unit townhouse should be held responsible.

The leak is under investigation, and a New Brunswick government spokesperson says displaced residents have returned to the building and the boiler has been replaced.

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