TROY, MICHIGAN (Fox News) – A 5-year-old boy tragically died after the hyperbaric oxygen chamber he was inside exploded at a medical facility in Troy, Michigan, early Friday morning. The explosion occurred at The Oxford Center around 8 a.m., leading to a fire that started within the chamber’s room. Authorities confirmed that the boy, from Royal Oak, was found deceased inside the chamber when emergency responders arrived. His mother, who was also in the room, sustained injuries to her arm but survived.
The Oxford Center specializes in hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which uses pressurized chambers containing 100% oxygen to treat various health conditions. While such chambers are typically safe, the high concentration of oxygen makes them extremely combustible, especially in a pressurized environment. Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the explosion, which was a rare and devastating incident.
A spokesman for The Oxford Center expressed sorrow, emphasizing that the safety of their patients is their top priority and that nothing like this has occurred in their 15 years of operation. The incident marks a deeply tragic event for both the family and the medical center, with ongoing investigations into what went wrong.
