Hockey tournament illness likely caused by Zamboni exhaust

NYHDP players are treated with oxygen at Kangiqsualujjuaq’s health centre April 11 after coming down with headaches and sore throats. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NORDIKS NYHDP)

Municipal and public health officials in Nunavik still haven’t said what caused a large number of hockey players to fall ill during a bantam hockey tournament in Kangiqsualujjuaq last week.

But sources close to the tournament say it was likely carbon monoxide emitted from the arena’s Zamboni ice-grooming machine that sent 130 people to the local health centre April 11.

Normally, small amount of those noxious fumes would be cleared by the building’s ventilation system, while people inside the building would have been alerted to those fumes by a carbon monoxide detector.

But neither were functioning April 11, when hockey players began complaining of sore throats and headaches.

More than 130 players, coaches and spectators were treated and tested at the local health centre April 11, when many were put on oxygen masks.

Three doctors and three nurses flew in to Kangiqsualujjuaq from Kuujjuaq April 11 — about a half an hour away by air — to care for the affected people.

Of these, 29 were kept under close surveillance, while two players were flown to Kuujjuaq for more treatment.

All have now recovered, public health officials said this week.

In an April 14 release, public health officials said they are working with the Kativik Regional Government to identify the cause of the illness, but, for now, say they still don’t know what caused it.

Results of air quality tests carried out at the arena this week have not been released. Meanwhile, the arena remains closed.