A survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire has been treated for cyanide poisoning, raising fears that the highly toxic gas hydrogen cyanide might have been released by the burning of insulation or plastics during the blaze.
Luana Gomes, 12, was diagnosed with smoke inhalation injury and cyanide poisoning, according to discharge papers from King’s College hospital in London seen by the BBC’s Newsnight.
Celotex RS5000 insulation was used during the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower and placed behind the cladding panels. The material is made from polyisocyanurate (PIR), which is combustible and produces toxic fumes, notably hydrogen cyanide, when it burns.
In a report published in 2011, Anna Stec and Richard Hull at the Centre for Fire and Hazard Science at the University of Central Lancashire found that 1kg of PIR burning in a badly ventilated area can produce enough lethal gas to fill 100 cubic metres.
Luana’s mother and sister were treated for possible cyanide poisoning, according to the report. They were put into medically induced comas and given a cyanide antidote.
Symptoms of cyanide poisoning include headaches, dizziness, confusion, vomiting and convulsions. Cyanide can be fatal in high doses.
Luana’s mother, Andreia Gomes, who was seven months pregnant at the time of the fire and lost her baby, told Newsnight: “You just killed my son. If it was in a normal situation, I could have gone out. And he was seven months. He could have survived. But because of the conditions, he passed away.”
Hull, a professor of chemistry and fire science at the University of Central Lancashire, told the BBC: “Plastic foam insulation is effectively made from crude oil and so it’s going to combust in more or less the same way as any other petrochemical.
“It’s got a lot of nitrogen in it and therefore when it burns it produces both carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.”
