A mother's attempt to treat the family home with bedbug fumigation chemicals accidentally exposed her five children in Canada, inadvertently killing a baby and poisoning four others, Fox13 reported.
Shazia Yarkhan was attempting to kill bed bugs at her western Canada home on Saturday by using an illegally imported pesticide brought from Pakistan, where the family had recently vacationed, police said on Monday. Unfortunately the substance was a pellet form of phosphine, an agricultural pesticide that is strictly controlled in Canada and requires special training to use.
While the 8-month-old girl has died, the other four siblings, ranging in age from 2 to 7 years old, are said to be improving but remain in critical condition. After being examined, the mother was released from a hospital in Fort McMurray, about 250 miles north of Edmonton, Alberta.
"It could have been [worse] if [the phosphane] was in the hand luggage and it got wet on the airplane, you could have had a whole airplane full of dead people," Zaid Suliaman, the president of the Pakistani Cultural Association in the family's area, told CBC News.
After exposing the bed bug pesticide treatment to the air and around the apartment on Saturday night, the pellets reacted with moisture and released phosphine gas, which is colorless and odorless, but extremely toxic, according to Canada's Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System.
Within hours of the fumigation taking place, all five children began showing signs of illness by constantly vomiting. Although alarmed, the mother did not take the children to the hospital until the following morning, the property manager said.
Following the accident, fire crews detected the substance throughout the apartment, with readings of 4.0 parts per million in the bedroom. Although 1.0 parts per million can be harmful after just 15 minutes, 5.0 parts per million can be absolutely lethal, according to UK MailOnline.
"There was significant exposure," an emergency worker said.
But according to Corporal George Cameron of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the poisonings appear to be accidental.