PHOSPHINE DEVASTATES CANADIAN MUSLIM FAMILY
Edmoton, 11 Jumadil Awwal 1436/2 March 2015 (MINA)– The plight of losing two kids and struggling to preserve the lives of three others has devastated a Canadian Muslim family after being exposed to a deadly pesticide used to kill bedbugs.
“The family is devastated,” Mike Allen, Fort McMurray member of the legislature who was at the funeral, told CBC.
“No parent should have to bury their child. This is a very tragic loss, to see such a tiny little casket,” On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
The tragedy began when the Edmonton family used Phosphine, an insecticide brought into Canada from Pakistan illegally, to fight a bedbug infestation.
When mixed with water, it creates a deadly gas.
The family discovered the disaster when its kids fell ill suddenly.
A two-year-old boy has died the same day his eight-month-old sister was buried.
Zia Hassan died in hospital in Edmonton Thursday, after he and four siblings were sickened by phosphine in his family’s Fort McMurray apartment.
The eight-month-old, Zara, died Monday and the family held her funeral in Edmonton Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a six-year-old boy remains at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton on a ventilator.
Two other children, aged four and seven, were released from a hospital in Fort McMurray on Wednesday.
Their mother, who was in hospital under observation, has also been released.
Experts told CBC News the family was likely breathing the gas for several days before the children fell ill and that the children may have been more affected by the gas.
Firefighters said they found an unmarked container within the home containing phosphine.
In a bid to help the family overcome the tragedy, members of the community attended the funeral to calm them.
“Think about this family in your prayers and if possible, help them,” said Taj Mohammed, the principal of the school the two eldest children attended.
“Support them somehow that you feel correct.”
Mohammed added that counselors will be available to help the two children come to terms with what happened.
“We will try to do our very best to make them understand,” he said.
“It’s tough, it’s not easy.” (T/P010/P3)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)