Hmm, I'm no scientist, but I've never heard of scrap metal generating deadly fumes. Didn't think digging through a junkyard was an inhalation hazard.

Aliens.....better call in Fox Mulder or Sigourney Weaver.

Radiation? Can it kill that quickly?

Sometimes this happens in old ships of there is a source for carbon monoxide to leak into various compartments.

Interesting ...but will probably turn out to be CO poisoning.

Yes, carbon monoxide would have to be the most likely cause.

More likely a lack of oxygen. Scrap metal (assume its steel) rusts, or oxidizes, depleting the 02 level to a point that won't support human life.

There was probably a fire in the cargo hold during the voyage. Those holds are air tight, and the scrap would have absorbed most of the heat. Once the oxygen was gone, the fire went out, leaving a hold full of carbon dioxide and coarbon monoxide.

As a regular in shipyards, this is all too common. Many gases are heavier than air. Once your in there is nothing you can do.

It could be as little as the fire, CO2, system leaked. It's terrible to say there this happens more often than one would think it should. There is no ventilation in the hold on most vessels.

Ugh... that's awful.

Hmm, I'm no scientist, but I've never heard of scrap metal generating deadly fumes. Didn't think digging through a junkyard was an inhalation hazard.

There are a lot of hazards associated with confined spaces such as cargo holds and voids of ships. Scrap metal (or even the metal of the ship itself) depletes oxygen as it rusts.

Very toxic gasses such as H2S are also common in these spaces.

There are probably procedures in place for entry into these types of spaces: ventilation, "sniffer" tests etc. With the stepped-up schedule of inspections, looking in more holds, I understand that they may have been in a hurry to do more with less.

I did awake with a strange rumbling in my stomach.

This is a common problem, particularly if there is rusting metal in a ship hold or compartment. The rusting of the metal takes the oxygen from the air. The depleted air will smother an inspector without any warning. I used to teach courses on marine survey(inspection). I would tell people to run a window fan into the hold of a barge or vessel before attempting to examine it.

As a regular in shipyards, this is all too common.

Yup. The Navy has lost a lot of people who feel just fine until they pass out for the last time. It's usually carbon dioxide.

Let's hope the authorities are conducting thorough autopsies. My first thought...still seems obvious to me, they discovered desperate stowaways who killed them. Not just your average illegal aliens either.

I'll be interested in "the rest of the story".

But then, I'm on a "heightened" tin foil alert.

Yeah, people die all the time climbing into silos or working in garage "pits." Anything that can contain CO, CO2, or other noxious fumes can kill you without warning.

Interesting. I didn't know that.

Or it could have been fumes from a previous cargo. When the Coast Guard enters these holds, they make a few tests first, then they go in. Looks like these folks eliminated that step.