Apartment residents say fatal carbon monoxide poisoning of 11-year-old was preventable

A man who lives in a Regina apartment building says the carbon monoxide detector in his unit sounded just hours before another tenant, an 11-year-old boy, died in the building.

The man said he contacted maintenance staff in the early afternoon as the alarm beeped and was told to "open my window and get a fan.”

CBC is not naming the man because he is afraid of facing repercussions for speaking out.   

The man said a maintenance worker spent some time trying to figure out what was causing the detector to go off in the Metro 1827 apartment building on Dec. 19.

“He instructed me to open the windows … his theory was that someone smoking outside may have caused the detector to go off,” the man said. 

Henry Losco, 11, died from carbon monoxide poisoning hours later.

His dad, Sergio Losco, says Henry was feeling sick earlier that day and went to lie down in his bed in their family's apartment unit on the fourth floor.

He never woke up. 

Carbon monoxide, or CO, is known as a "silent killer." It's a gas with no smell, no taste and no colour — impossible to recognize without a detector. 

The man whose CO detector went off said he regrets not pushing maintenance staff to do more. He said he believes Henry’s death could have been prevented.

He's not alone in questioning what happened.

Now some of the building's tenants are demanding answers and accountability.

The building’s owner declined CBC’s request for an interview through his lawyer and did not respond to CBC's questions. The building’s maintenance man did not respond to CBC’s questions or request for an interview. 

The tragedy hits hard for Marina Hills, Henry’s mom.