A little boy was killed and his mother injured early Friday when a hyperbaric chamber exploded at a medical facility in Troy, Michigan.
Fire and police officials responded to the scene at 165 Kirts Boulevard around 8:00 a.m. after reports came in about an explosion, Fox 2 reported.
There was a fire inside the chamber when authorities arrived and firefighters dealt with the blaze. The boy, who was five years old, was inside the chamber when it exploded.
5-year-old boy dead in oxygen chamber explosion at Detroit medical facility https://t.co/kbB8WGt9js pic.twitter.com/j4m0HKdfIF
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Troy police Lt. Ben Hancock said, “The mother of the child suffered some injuries to her arms as she was standing right next to the chamber as the explosion occurred. We don’t know exactly what the child was being treated for at the center today.”
Video footage shows emergency crews at the scene:
The facility where the incident happened is operated by the Oxford Center, according to the Detroit News. The outlet said once officials contained the fire, they extracted the child who was eventually pronounced dead.
Workers at the facility were reportedly not hurt during the explosion, which is being investigated. Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young said it is unknown at the moment whether or not the facility had a license to operate a hyperbaric chamber, or even if a license is necessary, the Detroit News reported.
In a statement following the tragedy, the Oxford Center said, “This is an exceptionally difficult day for all of us… The safety and well-being of the children we serve is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy.”
It added that it was working with officials on the investigation.
Meanwhile, Hancock said, “It’s a horrible, tragic incident. It’s not something that we ever want to have to respond to.”
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, the treatment known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can help patients heal from carbon monoxide poisoning, gangrene, and wounds that are difficult to heal.
“It is also used for infections in which tissues are starved for oxygen,” the site reads, adding, “For this therapy, you enter a special chamber to breathe in pure oxygen in air pressure levels 1.5 to 3 times higher than average. The goal is to fill the blood with enough oxygen to repair tissues and restore normal body function.”
