Banned pesticide sickens Delaware family at U.S. Virgin Islands resort
A Delaware family of four was seriously sickened after they were accidentally poisoned by exterminators using a banned pesticide at a luxury resort in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The Wilmington News Journal said the two boys are still in a coma two weeks after being stricken. The newspaper said their father has has regained consciousness, while their mother was released from the hospital.
Doctors airlifted Steven Esmond, 49, his wife and their two sons, Sean, 16, and Ryan, 14, to the U.S. after they became ill March 20 during a stay at the $800-a-night Sirenusa resort on the Caribbean island of St. John.
Theresa Devine is a dentist; Steven Esmond is an administrator at Tatnall School in Grenville, Del.
The Esmonds “are great fighters and we continue to be vigilant and optimistic” they will recover, family attorney James Maron told the newspaper.
