An impromptu party in an empty house in Figueira da Foz ended in tragedy at the weekend after a young couple died from inhaling carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty generator.
Reporting on the disaster, Expresso newspaper wrote that even the owner of the property, who lives in Lisbon, was unaware the youngsters were using it.
According to police called to the scene, the partygoers were given the key by a “friend of a friend”.
As the place was not connected to electricity, the group of around 25 young people took their own generator with them and set up for the party in the property’s basement.
Everything was going well until one couple sought “some privacy” and went into the shack where the generator was running.
Authorities believe toxic fumes leaking out of the machine poisoned the two revellers, a 25-year-old man and a 19-year-old girl.
Friends who found the couple unconscious were quick to alert emergency services, but nothing could be done to save them by the time these arrived.
