By Seth Daniel
Last weekend, four individuals in Chelsea lost their lives due to suspected opiate overdoses within a 48-hour span, with a fifth fatality reported in Revere.
The sudden increase in opiate-related deaths prompted Chief Brian Kyes to release a public health alert on Sunday, Aug. 13, cautioning residents that a dangerous batch of illicit drugs was circulating in the area and likely contained Fentanyl.
““The Chelsea Police Department and State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office are investigating a sudden spike in overdoses, some fatal, within the last 48 hours,”,” read the alert. ““The police want to alert the community of the danger of this recent influx of Fentanyl into the area which could possibly be the cause of these incidents. Police are actively seeking to find the source through chemical analysis.””
According to Kyes, the rapid succession of deaths created an urgent need to inform the public about the potential risks.
““We had four deaths from overdoses and Revere had one in a 48-hour period,”,” he stated. ““That’s five in our general area in a 48-hour period. Based on that spike and the overdose fatalities in only 48 hours, I sent out a warning in the form of a community alert or public health alert to let people know there appeared to be illegal drugs on the street that could be laced with Fentanyl and dangerous.””
The first overdose and death in Chelsea occurred on Friday during the early evening, involving a 65-year-old man. Later that night, at 10 p.m., a 28-year-old woman also succumbed to an overdose.
On Friday afternoon, an unidentified man in Revere was found dead from a suspected drug overdose.
Returning to Chelsea, a 48-year-old man died from an overdose on Saturday.
On Sunday, a man was discovered deceased outside in the shrubbery behind Beth Israel on Broadway after overdosing.
Kyes noted that these incidents bring the total number of overdose deaths in Chelsea this year to 11, a figure that is actually lower than the number recorded at this time last year.