Tennessee Theater Worker Dies After Carbon Dioxide Exposure

The president of a Tennessee variety show venue says one of its workers has died after a carbon dioxide leak.

The Oak Ridger reports that David Fee, president and CEO of the Smoky Mountain Opry Theater in Pigeon Forge, issued a statement Thursday saying theater technician Josh Ellis has died.

The 38-year-old Ellis died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where he had been placed in a medically-induced coma.

Authorities said Ellis and two employees who went to check on him were found unconscious during a performance March 3. Hundreds of people were evacuated. The two surviving workers were released from a hospital within hours.

A theater official has said the leak stemmed from a valve left open on a machine that uses carbon dioxide to create fog.