Monday, February 23, 2015

1 BABY DIES, FOUR CHILDREN IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL IN APARTMENT IN FORT MCMURRAY, ALBERTA, CANADA





FEBRUARY 23, 2015

FORT MCMURRAY, ALBERTA, CANADA

An eight-month-old has died after the baby and the mother, as well as four other children in a Fort McMurray, Alta., apartment building, were exposed to a substance on Sunday that RCMP have determined is a type of fumigant.

Two children, two and six years old, were taken to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. Two others, aged four and seven, remain in a Fort McMurray hospital. RCMP have confirmed they are in critical condition.
The mother of the eight-month-old is under observation in the Fort McMurray hospital.

The fire department received a call about the possible spill in the Fraser Avenue apartment building in the afternoon.

One floor of the building was evacuated around 3 p.m. local time, and the children were taken to hospital.

The RCMP is not releasing the names of the children at the request of family members.

Cpl. George Cameron said the RCMP is still investigating, but is treating the situation as a sudden death.

“Like any investigation that we have, we begin by ruling things out,” he said. “And when I say that, we don’t believe at this time that this was an intentional incident, if you will, but we have to determine the exact cause of the death of this infant, why it happened, could it have been prevented.”

Cameron said police won't speculate on the exact nature of the substance or where it came from, but, “It appears the occupants were using some kind of fumigant."

The fumigant appeared to have been isolated to the one apartment, police said.
“We’re hoping that sooner rather than later we’ll be able to positively identify the substance, or the fumigant, if you will, that was used in the apartment.”
All other building tenants were allowed to return home around 6:30 p.m. Sunday after air-quality testing determined it was safe.