SEATAC, Wash. -- Nine people were rushed to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning on Thursday night.

King County Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said deputies responded to reports of a carbon monoxide leak at a home in the 4800 block of South 172nd before 9 p.m. They arrived to find six people who had already become sick from the gas.

Deputies learned the situation started when the driver of a minivan taxi returned home but left the cab running in the garage, allowing the gas to spread through the house.

He and his wife eventually fell ill and passed out. Their grown son walked in and also started getting sick. He was able to make a phone call to a relative for help just before he passed out.

Those relatives, woman and her two children, arrived at the home a short time later and found the three unconscious. She and her children started feeling sick as well, but quickly fled the house and called 911.

While trying to help the residents, three SeaTac police officers also began to feel ill. They raced out of the home and had to wait for firefighters to arrive to rescue the three still unconscious.

The officers, the three unconscious people and the 911 caller and her children were all taken to the hospital.

Seven victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center and the rest were taken to Virginia Mason Medical Center. Their names are not known.

A spokeswoman at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Susan Gregg-Hanson, said on Friday evening two men and a woman are in serious condition Friday at the hospital's intensive care unit.

The others, including the three officers, were treated and released Thursday night.