FALL RIVER, MASS. (WHDH) - A man remains hospitalized in critical condition as authorities in Fall River continue to investigate at an apartment building that has been deemed uninhabitable after the release of mercury last month.
The poisonous material was released into the Hamlet Street building on Jan. 25 by a man trying to melt down old dental fillings, believing they were silver, according to Fall River fire officials.
The girlfriend of the man who melted the fillings said that they were in desperate need of money.
“We were having trouble with transportation,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. “We did lose our truck and we needed another vehicle.”
When the man went to the hospital three days later, doctors struggled at first to figure out what made him ill.
His name has not been made public.
His girlfriend said she knew something was terribly wrong when he was “using a water bottle thinking it was a cellphone and trying to play a game on it.”
Toxic levels of mercury 800 times higher than normal were later discovered when emergency officials responded to the building on Saturday after a 17-year-old girl who lives there became sick. She tested positive for mercury and was taken to a Rhode Island hospital.
Over the past few weeks, four pets in the building have died, according to Fall River Building Inspector Glenn Hathaway.
“I got really concerned when they told me that there were three dead cats and a dog,” he said. “My first instinct was why are the animals dying?”
Every resident of the building has since been tested for mercury.
Hathaway said the building must be thoroughly cleaned before residents can return to their homes. He’s also prioritized finding anyone else who may have stepped foot in the building.
“If there were many people in the building, such as a visitor, are they contaminated? They want to get them tested, get them help,” he added.
Authorities are working to retrace the victim’s steps in the days after the melting incident.
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