Two boys pulled from SUV are in critical condition

Fumes overcame them in partly submerged vehicle

LUNENBURG - When the mud-splattered, black Jeep Wrangler rumbled out of the woods, the faces of the two young boys inside were blue. They were both unconscious, apparently the result of carbon monoxide poisoning.

"Both of them were bad," said Jason Gowell, who is friends with the men who took the boys four-wheeling deep into the woods Friday night. "Real bad."

Gowell said at least one of the boys, ages 10 and 11, is from Fitchburg. Police yesterday in this small town in Central Massachusetts would not release the names of the boys or their fathers. Gowell said he knew one man and his son only by their first names.

The boys had been with their fathers and three other adults when one of the vehicles, a red Jeep Cherokee, apparently got stuck in mud and a pool of water, Gowell and police said.

Joseph D. Early Jr., the Worcester County district attorney, continued investigating the case yesterday. His office refused to release any details about the in cident.

"There's nothing new in this case," said Tim Connolly, spokesman for Early's office. "The investigation is continuing."

All he would add was that the children were in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The men went into the woods on Friday about 6 p.m. in three vehicles - a red Suzuki Samurai, the Jeep Cherokee, and the Jeep Wrangler.

The woods contain town-owned and private property, with several rocky dirt paths that are used for off-roading, Gowell and police said.

About two hours after they left, Gowell said, the Jeep Cherokee got stuck in the mud. About half the vehicle was submerged in water, and as the adults tried to get it out, fumes began filling the car. The boys stayed in the sport utility vehicle, apparently to stay warm, police said. The Cherokee was the only vehicle that was enclosed.

"The tail pipe appears to have been submerged, but the cause is still under investigation," Sergeant Thomas Gammel, of the Lunenburg Police Department, said yesterday in an interview at the police station.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, tasteless gas that can be deadly if it goes undetected. Unintentional exposure to carbon monoxide accounts for about 15,000 emergency department visits and 500 unintentional deaths in the United States each year, according to the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gowell said the boys were in the vehicle for about 10 minutes before one of the men noticed they were unconscious in the back seat. Gowell said police responded at 8:27 p.m.

The fathers and their sons sped about a mile out of the woods in the Jeep Wrangler, heading for an auto body shop, which is near one of the off-road paths and is run by Raul Lopez, one of the men who was on the trip.

When they arrived, the boys were wet, Gowell said. They were unconscious and their faces were a deep shade of blue, Gowell said. One father carried his son into the shop, where an employee began resuscitation efforts. Paramedics arrived shortly after and continued working on the boys, who were taken by ambulance to Health Alliance Leominster before being flown to the hospital.

Lopez was at the hospital most of the day yesterday, Gowell said.

"He's taken it like it's his own kid over there. He's pretty upset about it," Gowell said.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.