Woman sickened by fumes at Ga. McDonald's dies

AP Graphic

POOLER, Ga. - An 80-year-old Florida woman has died after being sickened by fumes at a McDonald's restaurant in south Georgia, authorities said.

Pooler police Chief Mark Revenew said Anne Felton of Ponte Verda, Fla., died early Thursday. She and her husband were customers at the restaurant. An autopsy will be conducted to determine cause of death.

Felton was one of ten taken to the hospital Wednesday after firefighters found two customers unconscious inside a restaurant bathroom and others struggling to breathe. Eight were treated and released and two were admitted for treatment.

Authorities said Wednesday they suspected cleaning chemicals in the restroom were to blame, but the cause was still under investigation.

The restaurant was evacuated but McDonald's later said the restaurant had reopened after authorities deemed it safe.

[whatevernameyouwant]

This is why it's so important to protect and preserve your sense of smell. It can save your life! I assume these people who entered that restroom had a poor sense of smell or else no one in their right mind would enter a room with a stench of fumes strong enough to kill a person. I mean there had to be a strong odor in there, unless it was a gas leak or carbon monoxide. Hopefully this will be a wake-up call about the dangerous cleaning chemicals we love to use, and replace them with nontoxic alternatives that can do the job just as well.

[javert53]

Hypochlorite bleach with an acid produces chlorine; hypochlorite bleach with ammonia produces one or more of the various chloramines.

[zoopster1]

Most likely an employee mixed toilet bowl cleaner (mostly phosphoric and/or hydrochloric acid) with bleach (sodium hypochlorite). This releases chlorine gas, inhalation of which is fatal within 5 minutes in sufficient concentrations. @ahrats, mustard gas causes blistering on contact with exposed skin, not just inhalation problems; plus it is (luckily) much harder to manufacture than simply mixing a couple of household chemicals in a toilet bowl.

Sorry for those poor people though, not a good way to go. :(

[waterdoc123]

You hit the nail right on the head. The same thing I was thinking before seeing the comments. MSDS and Right to Know doesn't mean anything @ min. wage.

[Jaylah54]

Well, if breathing the air in a MickeyD's doesn't kill you, the food will eventually.

[rondivoo]

I don't know what it was, but it is scary! Who would think you can walk into a business or building and die!

[DenverBroncofan]

Mcdonalds just found another way to kill other than the food

[photolex]

You are on the right track, but wrong chemical weapon. Ammonia and chlorine bleach form chlorine gas.

[waterdoc123]

Add ammonia and tell me what happens?

[ahrats]

Simple mix ammonia with bleech and what to you get good old fashion musterd gas. Just use one type of cleaning agent then use another over the same surface and just sit back and wait till they mix.

[stupa5]

Always said that Macdonalds stinks!

[credibility2]

...from other online articles on this, and the CBS one, investigators aren't certain what the deadly fumes were caused by...one article speculated cleaning supplies...hope no one else dies or becomes disabled from inhaling whatever the toxic fumes were...