A 69-year-old FedEx worker was found dead in subzero temperatures outside an Illinois delivery hub on Thursday –– and authorities are working to determine whether the dangerous weather played a role in the death.
William L. Murphy was found dead around 9:24 a.m. on Thursday at FedEx Freight in East Moline, Illinois, after collapsing outside the delivery hub more than a day before, Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson tells PEOPLE.
“It was very frigidly cold,” Gustafson tells PEOPLE, noting that Murphy’s exact cause of death has not been determined. “Could [the weather] have caused him to go into cardiac arrest? Possibly.”
A delivery man works in New York City on Jan. 21.STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty
On Tuesday, temperatures in Moline plummeted to -12 degrees, according toThe Weather Channel. By Thursday, temperatures reached as low as -27 degrees.
RELATED STORY:Death Toll Climbs to 21 as Polar Vortex Gives Way to ‘Spring-Like’ Temperatures This Weekend
The incident is the latest in a string of weather-related deaths as brutal cold from thepolar vortex grips the Midwest. At least 21 people have died as the temperatures have plummeted, according toThe Weather Channel.
A homeless man in New York City on Jan. 30.Drew Angerer/Getty
Dozens of people across the country have been hospitalized for symptoms of hypothermia and frostbite sustained as a result of the bitter cold, theThe New York Timesreported.
Among the dead are an18-year-old University of Iowa studentfound outside a campus building; four men found frozen in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan and six Iowans who died in car crashes.
TheJames J. Versluistugboat breaks ice in Chicago on Jan. 30.Scott Olson/Getty
However, the warm weekend doesn’t mean the cold is through.
“It’s not the end of the movie yet,” Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research, told theAssociated Press. “I think at a minimum, we’re looking at mid-February, possibly through mid-March.”
source: people.com
