The owner of the pest control company that sprayed the building where two children and a woman died in Timisoara has been detained for 24 hours.
Ioan Sorin Buta, owner of Bistim Dera, is charged with bodily injury, manslaughter and trafficking of toxic substances. He will be heard on Tuesday, pending preventive arrest.
According to his lawyer, Buta bought the substances used to disinfect the block of flats from “an acquaintance”, so without legal papers. The owner told investigators he knew the substances are stronger, but he was assured that the apartments he has to disinfect are not inhabited. Moreover, the lawyer said that the same substance had been used in a hotel, “with very good results”.
Apparently, the same company also disinfected a kindergarten in the city.
Three people – a 10-day-old baby, a 3-year-old child and the latter’s mother, 29yo woman – have died in a block of flats in Timisoara following a suspicious pest control in the building.
After the pest control in the building 16 children and 4 adults living in the same block of flats were hospitalized on Tuesday morning.
The Timis County Inspectorate for Emergency Situations has announced that a neurotoxic substance had been detected on the staircase. The 200-apartment building has been evicted.
The pest control in the two buildings of the block in Timisoara has been done by Bistim Dera, a boutique firm set up in July 2015.
The last turnover reported was the one in 2018, which mounted to RON 142,759, with a profit of RON 89,556.
According to fiscal data, the company has no employee.
The pest control tariffs as presented on the company’s Facebook page start from RON 100 for an one-room apartment and reach to RON 200 for houses, villas or staircases.
In the contract of the pest control company and the owner of the studio apartments where the tragedy occurred there are 25 apartments that were disinfected.
Besides the two blocks of flats, Bistim Dera has also fumigated other five buildings in Timisoara.
Sources close to the investigation, in the apartments close to the ones where the three people died the level of the toxic substances detected by prosecutors is very high.
Delicia Gastoxin, the substance used for the pest control
Delicia Gastoxin, the insecticide used by the pest control company in this case, is working based on 56% aluminum phosphide and is lethal in case of swallowing or inhalation, according to the product’s security record.
Delicia Gastoxin, sold as 3-gram round flat pills, is considered a superior product in its range
The fumigant insecticide is used to counter big rodents in cereal warehouses and crops.
The phosphide gas is released by Delicia Gastoxin in the humidity conditions and is extremely toxic for humans and animals. By inhalation, the phosphide is blocking the respiratory tract.
The most important symptoms and effects, both delayed or acute are: headaches, nausea, anxiety, vomiting and breathing difficulty.
Company had not operating permit, Timisoara mayor says
“This company and the ones who contracted it are irresponsible. In such a sector, with a high risk level, it is not allowed to function without operating permit. We have checked the records and that company has never filed any request to have an operating permit released by the Timisoara City Hall and has not been granted any. Nobody knew about it. It used to advertise itself through banners glued on the fence of a car wash”, Robu said.
“The pest control has been conducted at the initiative of the homeowners association, on a private plot of land, with no City Hall’s involvement. It was not the city hall that chose the pest control company or paid (…) What we can hope now is to have minimum further effects of this tragedy. There is no antidote against this substance”, the mayor added.