Dropping temperatures in New Orleans appear to have caused two homeless people to die of hypothermia, officials say.
The Orleans Parish coroner's office said Friday frigid temperatures likely caused a homeless man and woman to die of body heat loss in separate incidents this week, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.
Officials said the body of 48-year-old Janice Collins was found Thursday on a sidewalk by a concerned citizen and responding emergency officials pronounced her dead at the scene.
Collins' relatives reportedly had offered her a place in their home during the nearly 28-degree weather, but she chose to live under the Crescent City Connection instead.
Two hours after Collins' body was found, 54-year-old Michael Przesmycki's body was found in a New Orleans parking lot.
UPI