Boy, 5, dies in explosion in hyperbaric oxygen chamber in Michigan, US

A 5-year-old boy from Michigan died after a hyperbaric chamber exploded while he was inside, police have confirmed.

The explosion happened just before 8am on Friday at the Oxford Centre medical facility in the city of Troy.

The boy, who was from Royal Oak, north of Detroit, was found dead inside the chamber when emergency services arrived, the Troy police and fire departments said in a statement.

His mother, who was standing next to the chamber when it ignited, suffered injuries to her arms, police Lieutenant Ben Hancock said at a news conference on Friday. “We don’t know exactly what the child was being treated for at the centre today,” he added.

The 5-year-old boy was found dead inside the hyperbaric chamber when emergency services arrived. Photo / 123RF

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to speed up the healing of wounds, or in the case of infections where tissues are in need of oxygen, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

It involves entering a chamber to breathe pure oxygen, with air pressure levels between 1.5 and three times higher than average, allowing blood to fill with oxygen and helping to repair tissues. It can be used to treat a variety of conditions, from poisoning to crush injuries and decompression sickness, Johns Hopkins said.

“The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurised environment can make it extremely combustible,” Lieutenant Keith Young of the fire department said. The explosion was contained to the chamber within the room, he said, and it was not clear how long the child was in the chamber before the explosion.

The Oxford Centre offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy with other services such as physical and occupational therapy, according to its website. Its hyperbaric chambers are “state-of-the-art hard-sided monoplace [single-person] chambers” which use “100% pure medical-grade oxygen”.

It also has an accompanying foundation for children with “disabilities, chronic illness, and traumatic injuries” to access “therapies and medical care not covered by insurance”.

The Oxford Centre, in an email to the Associated Press, said the fire started inside the chamber and “nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy”.

“The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority … We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place,” it said.

The use of oxygen in hospitals as a treatment for Covid-19 prompted a warning from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in 2021 that hyperbaric facilities require unique fire protection.

“Preventing potential ignition sources from entering the chamber and only permitting certain fabrics to be worn or brought into the chamber are some examples of the safety precautions that should be taken,” it said. “Staff must also be aware of the hazards and properly trained on how to respond during an emergency.”