OTTAWA, Canada – A baby died and four young siblings were in critical condition after they were accidentally exposed to bedbug fumigation chemicals at their western Canada home, police said Monday.
Corporal George Cameron of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told AFP the children were rushed to the hospital Sunday after firefighters responded to a chemical spill in a home in Fort McMurray, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Edmonton, Alberta.
A family member told the daily Edmonton Journal the mother had been using a pesticide to kill bedbugs when she inadvertently poisoned her children.
Cameron said the chemical “has not yet been identified.”
The eight-month-old baby died in hospital. The other children, aged two to seven, remained in critical condition, Cameron said.