Here's another article with the same title, also the same publication date, but with a different author.
My guess is that the initial report was primarily taken from
Associated Press (it's quite similar to the previous article), but that the
update contained enough original material for a local reporter to put his byline on it.
The initial report
follows the update directly below:
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The Daily Courier10/9/2009 12:06:00 PM2 die, 19 overcome at Sedona retreat sweat lodge
Investigators look over a "sweat lodge" on the grounds of Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona Friday where two people died and an estimated 19 others were taken to hospitals after being overcome while sitting in the sauna-like sweat lodge during a Sedona spiritual retreat, authorities said Friday.
Tom Tingle/The Associated PressBY JON HUTCHINSON
Special to the Courier, Verde Valley NewsUPDATE, 5:44 p.m.SEDONA - Two people have died and a total of 19 received treatment at one of three medical centers Thursday night when participants collapsed after a New Age-type sweat lodge experience near Sedona.
As many as 68 reportedly crowded into a tarpaulin-covered dome at the remote retreat in Deer Pass Valley about 6.5 miles south of West Sedona along Oak Creek. The domed structure is about 30 feet long and about shoulder high, estimated Merry Shanks of the Verde Valley Fire District, the agency that commanded the rescue.
Angel Valley Retreat operators say they rented out the lodge to another group for the Thursday event. In addition to the 48 participants, three staff members and three members of the "Dream Team" were in the sweat lodge, where operators pour water over hot rocks to create steam in the enclosures.
James Arthur Ray played host for the event for a "Spiritual Warrior" phase of his "Journey of Power Experience" series of lectures presented across the country. Participants told Sheriff's Office investigators they paid $9,695 for the experience. Ray was in the shelter at the time of the illnesses. Investigators interviewed him, and he since has left the retreat center.
Shanks retreat participants said the "experience" had eight "rounds" over a two-hour period.
The Verde Valley Fire District initially responded about 5:19 p.m. to a reported emergency medical incident, but it quickly escalated as sweat lodge participants reportedly "coded."
"While we were there more and more people were getting sick," said Shanks, spokeswoman for the Verde Valley Fire District.
Eventually, three medical helicopters carried four victims to Flagstaff Medical Center. Ground ambulances responded from Sedona Fire, Montezuma-Rimrock Fire, Verde Valley Ambulance and Camp Verde Fire.
Doctors pronounced two of those taken to Verde Valley Medical Center dead shortly after arrival. They were a middle-aged man and a woman. Authorities are withholding their names pending notification of relatives.
A preliminary assessment by the Camp Verde Haz-Mat Team showed no hazardous materials. Camp Verde Fire Spokeswoman Barbara Rice notes that authorities conducted tests nearly an hour after the first call and when the structure had been ventilated. Crews found carbon monoxide traces in the "voids" between the covering blankets, and a lack of oxygen.
Five patients taken to Sedona Medical Center were treated and released. A total of 12 went to Verde Valley Medical Center. Seven were treated and released Thursday. Three more were admitted, treated and released Friday. Of four patients flown to Flagstaff Medical Center, four remained in critical condition Friday and one is in fair condition.
Robert Resendes, director of the Yavapai County Health Department, says the department inspects the kitchen at the retreat in another building, but does not have any authority over the sweat lodge.
Yavapai Sheriff's Office detectives arrived Thursday night to begin the unexplained death investigation. They interviewed principals in the activities and were to obtain search warrants to determine if evidence exists in other buildings at the retreat.
The 70-acre retreat lies at the end of a rough Forest Service Road on the east side of Oak Creek.
The retreat area has been closed to the press and public pending the investigation.
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INITIAL REPORT:(AP) - Two people died and an estimated 19 others were taken to hospitals after being overcome while sitting in a sauna-like sweat lodge at a Sedona retreat, authorities said Friday.
About 50 people were in a crudely constructed "sweatbox" next to an open sitting area at the 70-acre Angel Valley resort Thursday evening, Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said. The facility nestled in the forest about 20 minutes from Sedona provides spiritual retreats.
Many people began feeling ill after about two hours in the sweat box, emerging lightheaded and weak, said Verde Valley Fire District Chief Jerry Doerksen.
About 21 people were taken by ambulance or helicopter to area hospitals, where two were pronounced dead, D'Evelyn said. The dead were identified only as a man and woman, both middle-aged.
Three people taken to Flagstaff Medical Center were listed in critical condition Friday, and another was in fair condition. Three others who were admitted to a hospital in nearby Verde Valley recovered quickly; two of them were released overnight and one was reported in good condition Friday.
Sheriff's homicide investigators were working to determine what happened and whether any criminal actions might have been a factor in the incident, D'Evelyn said. They were at the resort Friday interviewing the retreat director, staff and guests.
D'Evelyn said authorities were checking into whether any of the attendees had preexisting medical conditions and the possibility that some of the people might have been fasting.
"There are a lot of issues that may have led up to these injuries and deaths," he said.
"It's not something you'd normally see at one of the resorts there," he added, "and it's unfortunate regardless of the cause."
Doerksen, whose fire district responded to emergency calls, said he sent a hazardous materials team into the sweat lodge to test for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other contaminants.
"The test they ran didn't show anything out of the ordinary," he said.
Sedona is a resort town about 115 miles north of Phoenix famous for its red rocks. It is well-known as a center for the modern spiritual movement.
A woman who answered the phone at the resort Friday said its founders, Michael and Amayra Hamilton, would have no comment. The resort's Web site credits various vortexes, a creek and the surrounding vegetation as a way to transform, heal and nourish visitors.
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