BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- An off-campus house fire Saturday morning killed two Indiana University students who had been friends since high school.
Two others IU students in the home were injured and flown to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment.
The body of L. Jacob Surface, 21, was found on the first floor, and Joseph Alexander, 21, was pronounced dead at Bloomington Hospital, according to Monroe County Coroner Dave Toumey.
Both appeared to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning in the small fire that was quickly extinguished, he said.
Paul Dayment, 21, was in serious but stable condition Saturday at Methodist, and Nicholas Habicht, no age available, was in critical condition, said Sharon Richards, a hospital spokeswoman.
The four victims were part of a group of about 20 former Center Grove High School students who maintained close ties in Bloomington, their friends told The Indianapolis Star.
Firefighters quickly put out the small first-floor fire that began around 5 a.m. in a residential neighborhood just south of the university, said Fire Chief Jeff Barlow. Investigators Saturday had not yet determined a cause, but said it could be electrical.
The deaths were the first fire fatalities in Bloomington since late 2002, Barlow said.
For a group of Greenwood students who had grown up and gone on to IU together, the deaths hit hard.
Heath Johnson, a fellow IU student and friend of the victims, said people might have thought it was abnormal for high school pals to stick together in college, but the group was not ready to give up its friendship.
"There was no way that we were not going to continue to hang out there," Johnson said.
Alexander, Surface and Dayment all just completed their junior years, and Habicht just completed his sophomore year, their friends said.
Dayment, Habicht and Alexander lived in the burned house while Johnson, Surface and another student lived nearby, the friends said. Surface was sleeping on a couch downstairs when the fire started.
