EAST LIVERPOOL — Bill Loomer, communications manager for Columbia Gas, said a gas leak was not responsible for the carbon monoxide that sent six people from multiple apartments in East Liverpool to the hospital on Monday.

“We went there and determined there is no leak at all,” Loomer said. “We are not sure what caused the carbon monoxide, but that is the fire department’s investigation.

Loomer noted that carbon monoxide is created when a fuel burns incompletely, so the cause could have been any other appliance they had in the building or some sort of problem with venting.

East Liverpool Mayor Bobby Smith also doesn’t believe it was a gas leak and noted that the fire department went back to the apartment late Monday evening with their meters and detected zero trace carbon monoxide left in the apartments.

There were no fatalities in this incident

Smith believes as of Monday night four of the six people hospitalized had been treated and released and two remain hospitalized in Pittsburgh.

As a result of this incident, Smith believes the city needs to look at the ordinances for rentals and amend the rental agreements to include not only smoke detectors required in a rental property but also carbon monoxide detectors.