Oakland Tribune

Gas leak victims wait for repairs
Hospital releases dead girl's sister

November 26, 1999

By Sharon Lerman
STAFF WRITER

BERKELEY — The halls of an apartment building where a young girl succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning were quiet on Thanksgiving Day.

More than a quarter of the units remained evacuated Thursday, a day after Seetha Vemireddy, 17, was killed and her sister sickened when the poisonous gas seeped from a blocked heating vent in their apartment at 2020 Bancroft Ave., Pacific Gas and Electric spokesman Jonathan Franks said.

Their heater was producing carbon monoxide levels of 2,000 parts per million, 20 times the legal limit of 100 ppm.

Seetha never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead Wednesday at Alta Bates Medical Center. Her sister, Lalitha, was released from the hospital Thursday, a spokesperson said.

PG&E inspected all the heaters in the 106-unit Berkeley Park Apartments and found 27 were either producing toxic levels of the gas or otherwise malfunctioning. Tenants in those units on the first three floors were evacuated and will not be allowed to return until repairs are made and the units are inspected.

Kazuki Suwa, 22, grabbed some belongings at his first-floor apartment Thursday afternoon before setting off in search of a hotel room for the night. With him was his girlfriend, who had just arrived from Japan in the morning.

"We cannot stay here; it may be risky," Kazuki said. "I hope I can make a reservation. There's nowhere else to go."

Fourth-floor tenant Winston Burton said two of his displaced neighbors were joining his family for Thanksgiving dinner. While the Vemireddy sisters had moved into the building just a few months ago after immigrating from India, they performed maintenance duties there and were known by many of the close-knit tenants.

"We're going to celebrate a sad Thanksgiving," Burton said. "It's just a big-time tragedy. ... The girls were really friendly, just sweethearts. They could have been my kids."

Vijay Reddy, co-owner of the apartment building, also owns the nearby Pasand Madras Cuisine restaurant, where the sisters worked. He said their families come from the same village in India, a tiny town called Velvadam.

"She's like a family member," Reddy said of Seetha Vemireddy. He declined to provide information about her parents, who live in Berkeley and also work at the restaurant.

From his Berkeley home, where he was preparing a holiday meal for 35 family members, Reddy said his company, L.B. Reddy Realty, purchased the building in August and was unaware of any problems with the heaters there. But he said the company would work as quickly as possible to make the units safe again.

"Unfortunately, I'm the only one who's going to be home for Thanksgiving; so many people are out of their apartments," Reddy said.

A blocked heating vent apparently caused the toxic gas to build up in apartment 228, the corner unit occupied by the sisters. Franks said the heater must have already been malfunctioning to produce such high levels.

Carbon monoxide kills by preventing a person from getting enough oxygen, Franks said. The gas is a product of incomplete combustion.

Heaters could have old, cracked parts or other problems with the internal mixture of gas and air, leading to inefficient burning and carbon monoxide, Franks said. PG&E workers will inspect heaters for free.

The gas is colorless and odorless, and people seldom have warning they're about to succumb. Victims may feel sick or drowsy before passing out, Franks said.



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STAFF WRITER Jeff Chorney contributed to this report.