DeSmog
Girl’s tragic death in oil industry explosion haunts her family
Maxwell Smith filled with grief over his daughter s death. Credit: Julie Dermansky
Maxwell Smith is on a mission to make sure no one loses a child the way he lost his 14-year-old daughter, Zalee Gail Day-Smith. Zalee, a vivacious high school freshman who loved singing, died on February 28 when oil tanks exploded near her home in Beauregard, Louisiana. “Her body was thrown 200 feet in the air,” Smith told me when I went to visit the family a month after the accident. Zalee’s body was found across the street from the site of the blast in the Bear Field oil field, just north of Lake Charles. It was located alongside one of the oil tanks that had been blown off its foundation. Smith says that his daughter’s body was mutilated to such a degree that the family was never allowed to see it.
intolerant to everyday scents, household products, medicines, even food after exposure to the chemicals and toxic fumes. the louisiana department of health reporting over 70 people have gotten sick from this spill, 15 more in alabama. and in baton rouge, let s go there to the executive director of the louisiana environmental action network, marylee orr. thanks for some of your time tonight. thank you, keith. it s an honor to be with you. thank you so much. your group s out there helping the first responders in the gulf. tell us your experience, what you re hearing from these people about their health. what we re hearing is folks are getting very sick, dizzy, vomiting, nausea, headaches, chest pains, and not just from the folks who are in the first responders, but folks who live along the gulf are also having health effects. are these do these symptoms last? i don t want to get too medical but is this a brief exposure sort of related and underscored thing or does it last? we