A 5-year-old Michigan boy died Friday when a hyperbaric chamber in a medical facility exploded, according to officials and reports.
Calls came in shortly before 8 a.m. alerting of an explosion at the Oxford Center, the Troy Fire Department said.
Police and fire crews found the Royal Oak boy inside the chamber.
“It’s a horrible, tragic incident,” Troy Police Lt. Ben Hancock said, the Detroit News reported. “It’s not something that we ever want to have to respond to.”
The boy’s mother, who accompanied him to the medical center, was injured.
“A hyperbaric chamber contains 100 percent oxygen, which is up to three times the amount of oxygen than a normal room,” the fire department said.
“The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible,” it said.
Fire officials said they do not know what caused the explosion. The investigation is continuing.
It’s unclear how long the boy was in the chamber before the explosion.
“Initially, it was a rescue so we went in for that but we also had an active fire, so we had to deal with that,” Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young said, the Detroit News reported. “The chamber was open when we arrived so we dealt with the fire first.”
Social workers are working with the emergency personnel and medical staff at the facility.
Andrew Kistner, a spokesman for Oxford, said it is an “exceptionally difficult day for all of us.”
“As law enforcement officials have shared, at our location in Troy, Michigan this morning, a fire started inside of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The child being treated in that chamber did not survive and the child’s mother was injured,” he said, the Detroit Free Press reported.
