DA: Alcohol found in beach house fire victims didn’t cause deaths

RALEIGH – The state medical examiner says all but one of the South Carolina college students killed last month in a beach house fire had alcohol in their systems, but the local prosecutor doesn’t think it played a role in their deaths.

Dr. John Butts says six of the seven victims had blood alcohol levels ranging from 0.16 percent to 0.29 percent when they died. The legal limit for driving in North Carolina is 0.08 percent, and Butts said the alcohol levels may have affected the students’ coordination.

But Brunswick County District Attorney Rex Gore says it’s not uncommon for students to drink at the beach. Gore says alcohol played no part in the fire at Ocean Isle Beach, noting that one of the students killed had no alcohol in their system.

Six students were able to escape from the burning home and survived the fire.