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Not too long ago, homeowners Peter and Martha Balderas decided to fumigate their home in Amarillo, Texas with Weevil-Cide, a chemical that protects homes against “destructive pests” like insects, moths, weevils, beetles, and even rodents.
After some time, however, a member of the Balderas family decided to attempt cleaning away the remnants of the fumigation chemical by spraying water on the area of original treatment.
They had no idea that when water mixed with the chemical used in Weevil-Cide – aluminum phosphide – it would create a phosphine gas that could result in respiratory failure.
Investigators still aren’t sure how long the Balderas family had been exposed to this fatal gas.
A visitor discovered the entire Balderas family – two parents and eight children – rendered immobile by the gas at around 5 a.m. on Monday morning. They called emergency services, who initially thought they were responding to a carbon monoxide poisoning incident.
It became clear, very quickly, that this was not the case.
Captain of the local fire department, Larry Davis, still knows very little about how this incident came about. His only thoughts thus far: “[Aluminum phosphide is] a very lethal chemical. It causes pulmonary edema, and basically the lungs fill up with fluid.”
Four of the Balderas children – Yasmeen, 17; Josue, 11; Johnnie, 9; and Felipe – passed away. The remaining six members of the family were immediately transported to the hospital.
Five are currently in stable condition, and the sixth is still be stabilized.
“We don’t know that that’s the cause of death so far,” Captain Davis admitted, “but [pulmonary edema is] one of the more severe symptoms. It took us a long time to identify the chemicals.”
We are keeping the Balderas family in our thoughts during this incredibly difficult time.
You can watch a news segment of this story here:
