The news of the boy’s death came as relatives and friends gathered for the funeral of Zara Hassan, who died on Sunday.
Five children were taken to the hospital by their mother on Sunday afternoon following a pesticide spill at their apartment in Fort McMurray. Soon after Zara succumbed to death. Two of the kids aged, four and seven, were being treated at a Fort McMurray hospital and two, ages two and five, were undergoing medical care at the Stollery Children’s hospital in Edmonton. Two among them were released from the hospital on Thursday while the third sibling, a six-year-old boy continues to remain on a ventilator at the Stollery Children’s hospital.
Official sources stated that the children got exposed to a pesticide called phosphine, which was an ingredient in the insecticide the parents have been using to kill the bed bugs in their apartment. According to officials, the mother, while vacuuming the apartment, might have accidentally released the pesticide pellets that were placed at various locations, releasing the pesticide into the air. The children got sick soon after and started vomiting; they were then rushed to the hospital.
The insecticide was brought to Canada from Pakistan during a recent trip to the South Asian country by the family. Phosphine is tagged as a Schedule 1 substance by Alberta which restricts its use only to licensed farmers and commercial applicators. If inhaled, the chemical causes cell damage in lungs. The Canadian Border Security Agency and RCMP have started an investigation into the matter.
