Report: 6 students killed in fire had been drinking, but alcohol did not contribute to deaths

Six of the seven college students who died in last month’s North Carolina beach house fire had been drinking, but their alcohol consumption was not why they did not get out alive, a South Carolina newspaper reported today.

The Ocean Isle Beach prosecutor and a state toxicology report did not identify which of the six USC students and one Clemson student had been drinking. And district attorney Rex Gore said one of the deceased had not been drinking.

Toxicology tests found no illicit drugs in any of the seven.

Gore told The Greenville News that alcohol levels were high enough that the students would have been violating state driving-under-the-influence laws.

“I’m not prepared to fault them for that,” Gore said. “It’s a tragedy that the fire consumed their lives.”

Fire investigators have said they cannot pinpoint the cause of the fire, but careless smoking could have been the cause.

- Clif LeBlanc