Based on their symptoms, the victims were treated for cyanide poisoning at hospitals. Most were released in stable condition the following day.
But now the autopsy results and other tests have come in, and according to Claudio Lemus Fortoul, general director of the IJCF, the substance was not cyanide, but aminobenzine, also known as aniline.
Aniline is an organic compound used in the industrial production of various dyes, rubbers, herbicides and one of the major precursors to polyurethane.After ingesting the chemical in a free Christmas meal prepared by the rehab center, several of the victims began feeling nauseous and vomiting. The first victim, Francisco Javier Huerta Martinez, had died by the time ambulances and investigators arrived. Four others died soon thereafter or on their way to hospitals.
Lemus Fortoul detailed IJCF’s efforts at collecting vomit from the victims, samples of the chorizo and rice they had been eating, and 16 other suspicious elements, including utensils and tortillas in order to rule out bacterial agents.
All five of the dead had acute pulmonary edema—fluid filling the air spaces of the lungs—and severe hypoxia, or lack of oxygen to the body. The aniline caused a cardiovascular collapse that led to these conditions and death.
Aniline was used as a painkiller during the 18th century, though doctors would have to balance its cardiac-suppressing side effects with caffeine.
The fumes of the compound are also toxic, a fact that fits with conditions reported by some rescue workers and investigators who said they also felt nauseous after spending time on the scene.
Now that the Jalisco Attorney General’s office knows the agent of the poisoning, they can investigate how the aniline got into the food and whether the act was intentional or accidental.