Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Kills Well-Known Albanian Singer at Staten Island

Three generations of an Albanian family, including a recently widowed singer well known among the Albanian community, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at their Staten Island home, according to police and family members.Anita Bitri, 36, a singer who had recently released a new album, her mother, Azbije, 66, and her daughter, Sibora, 8, were discovered dead at their Ocean Avenue home yesterday at 8:24 a.m., police said. A friend of the family who visited the home found the bodies.“She was a really famous singer in Albania, and she was a famous singer in our country,” said Edmond Xhani, 48, a guitarist who performed with Bitri. Mr. Xhani said Bitri had been performing for 20 years and produced a new album this summer named “Nothing is Impossible.” Other musicians said Bitri has performed in Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, and Boston, as well as in the city and in Europe. She recently traveled to Albania to produce her album with Kosovar producer Florent Boshnjaku and Brooklyn Media Lab.An FDNY spokesman said the downstairs boiler was to blame for the fatally high levels of carbon monoxide in the home. The medical examiner’s office has not yet released an official cause of death.A spokeswoman for the city Department of Buildings, Jennifer Givner, said a plastic bag was found stuffed in the exhaust pipe of the home’s boiler, blocking the toxic exhaust from issuing out of the building. Ms. Givner said concrete was being poured at a construction site adjacent to the house and the plastic may have been used to prevent concrete from pouring into the exhaust pipe.“It is a fact that the plastic bag was in the exhaust pipe and should not be there,” said Ms. Givner, who said the Department of Buildings and police are investigating the incident. Police said there were no arrests yesterday.Ms. Givner said a recently passed law requires all homes with fossil fuel-burning boilers to have carbon monoxide detectors within 15 feet of all bedrooms by November 1. There were no carbon monoxide detectors within the Ocean Avenue home, said Ms. Givner.Family members, fellow musicians, and friends gathered in front of the Bitri home yesterday.Speaking Albanian through a translator, Engjellushe Hasanbelliu, 63, said her cousin Azbije Bitri “was trying to make the best for her daughter and her granddaughter. She was a wonderful woman.”Family members described the singer as a beautiful, raven-haired woman whose family was striving to recover from the loss of her 51-year-old husband, Luan Prapaniku, who died from cancer in recent months.“She was a great performer, and very lovely,” said Neil Spahiv, a photographer who worked with Bitri when she performed at weddings and other events. “This is horrible news.”The deaths bring this year’s total carbon monoxide-related fatalities to seven citywide. An FDNY spokesman said two residents died and two were critically injured at the Bronx on January 13.At Manhattan on February 15, there were two additional fatalities and two more people critically injured.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Kills Well-Known Albanian Singer at Staten Island

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Kills Well-Known Albanian Singer at Staten Island

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