Durban - Teen couple Tashlin Sewnarain and Taybah Shaik’s romantic getaway at a KwaZulu-Natal Midlands chalet cost them their lives - and now police say a toxic gas may be to blame.
The lifeless bodies of Sewnarain, 19, and Shaik, 16, both from Pietermaritzburg, were found in the chalet bathroom, which was equipped with a gas-operated geyser, on May 29, a day after they checked in.
“It is possible that when all the windows and doors were closed and the couple took a shower, there was no escape from the carbon monoxide,” said Pietermaritzburg police spokeswoman Gay Ebrahim.
“This unfortunately resulted in the couple’s death.”
The fact that police appear to have ruled out suicide has come as a relief to Sewnarain’s devastated family, but shock to the manager of Peattie’s Lake Resort, Dan Thompson, who found their bodies after breaking a window to gain entry.
“We had safety inspectors come out and everything was fine,” he told POST on Tuesday.
“It (the incident) is shocking. It knocked me up bad and I am cut up about it.”
Ebrahim confirmed the post mortem finding of carbon monoxide poisoning being the cause of death, saying a formal inquest would be held.
Sewnarain’s father, Premnath Sewnarain, told POST that, depending on the outcome of the inquest, “if there was any negligence, we are going to proceed with legal action. We have contacted our attorneys.”
He claimed this was not the first such incident at the resort, which is near Albert Falls.
“We are awaiting information regarding another couple who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and were hospitalised for a week.”
Thompson, however, described the teens’ deaths as “very unusual”.
“This is the first time something like this has happened in the nine years that the chalet has been operating.”
Sewnarain said the post-mortem finding would clarify speculation that the teenagers had taken their own lives.
He said the past two months had been difficult for him, his wife Sunitha and their teenage daughter.
“We are trying to live. It is difficult, he was our only son. It has been a shock,” he said.
“The sad thing is that when our children passed away the resort did not give us a courtesy call to say sorry or send flowers to the family.
“When we went to pick up my son’s car, all his belongings were just lying on the bonnet. The manner in which the resort handled it...,” he added, his voice trailing off.
Sewnarain said Tashlin would have turned 20 on Sunday.
“He had everything to live for. Our lives have just fallen apart. We have lost a child. We are going to counselling to try to come to terms with it. My daughter has failed her June exams. It has devastated our entire lives, and to pick up the pieces and move forward hasn’t been easy.”
He said he had not returned to work.
“My family needs me right now.”
Sunitha had dismissed allegations that her son had ended his life, telling POST at the time that he was “fine and happy” when she had last spoken to him via WhatsApp the night before his death.
“He told me that his girlfriend had cooked a nice meal,” she had said. “I know my child, he was very open with me; if they were fighting, he would have told me.”
She said Tashlin, who dropped out of third-year BCom studies in March to start working, had been dating Shaik “for a while”.
Shaik’s family declined to comment on the post mortem finding.
Speaking generally, independent forensic pathologist Professor Steve Naidoo said carbon monoxide was an invisible gas produced in any combustion, that when inhaled in high doses would cause asphyxiation (suffocating from a lack of oxygen to the body).
Naidoo said carbon monoxide was released when there was combustion following a fire or burning, but poisoning was dependent on whether or not a person was in a well-ventilated area.
“If there is good ventilation then it is unlikely a person can be affected, but if there is poor ventilation then the chance a person can get a high concentration of carbon monoxide, which can be toxic, is quite high.”
He said that there had been reports of people who had survived carbon monoxide poisoning but had been left with a neurological disorder or brain dysfunction.
“Most people die from significantly high carbon monoxide,” Naidoo said.
“There are no experiments to confirm how rapidly a person dies, but from anecdotal reports and literature, generally people die within a few minutes of exposure.”
Naidoo said it was difficult to make a finding when looking at the body during a post mortem because there were no visible signs.
“Except that when there (are) high levels of carbon monoxide, it changes the blood to a cherry-red colouration that might be visible, but not always.”
He said what was important to note was that it could happen to anyone. “It is important to use a lot of common sense: if there is a fire, make sure there is good ventilation.”
Naidoo said he recalled the death of a family of five on the North Coast from carbon monoxide poisoning after a fire in their home.
“Technically it can happen anywhere, so when there is combustion you have to be in a well-ventilated room indoors.”
POST