May 22, 2009 — Details are sketchy, but a 43-year-old St. Thomas man died Friday after he was apparently overcome while working in a St. John cistern. Schneider Regional Medical Center spokesman Sam Topp said two construction workers were inside the cistern of a house under construction in Fish Bay.
"One went into respiratory arrest," Topp said
The second man, a 33-year-old St. John resident, was treated at Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center before being released.
According to Topp, it remains unclear how the two were overcome in the cistern.
"It was something toxic or the level of oxygen or something," Topp said.
The other man was transferred from Myrah Keating to Roy L. Schneider Hospital on St. Thomas, where he was placed on life support. He died at 3:42 a.m. Friday.
Topp declined to release their names.
He said medical officials in the Virgin Islands are in contact with the Poison Control Center in an effort to determine the cause.
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