Relatives are blaming a Graniteville man's death this week on the January train wreck that spewed 60 tons of toxic chlorine gas into the community.
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The chlorine exposure he suffered more than three months ago killed Leonard Mathis on Tuesday, family members said, making him the 10th fatality from the crash.
The 51-year-old brick mason spent six days in University Hospital's intensive care unit after the Norfolk Southern freight train crash, which killed nine, hospitalized 19 others and forced 5,000 residents to evacuate.
About 250 also were injured, and more than 20 lawsuits, ranging from personal injury to wrongful death, have been filed since, including one by Mr. Mathis.
"We're informed to believe that the upper respiratory problems are directly related to the chlorine spill. His health had simply continued to decline. He had been on a ventilator since the spill," attorney Reginald Simmons told The Associated Press.
"He certainly had no upper respiratory problems prior to the spill. In fact, he worked diligently up until that time of being caught in the plume. He had not returned to work since," Mr. Simmons said.
On the morning of the accident, Mr. Mathis rode through the thick green cloud of chlorine gas, unaware of the dangers the reactive compound would wreak on his body.
He was returning to his Mount Arthur Drive home, about half a mile from the crash site, as the fog of chlorine began to roll through the community, sister Elizabeth Brown said.
Ms. Brown said doctors told her brother that he would never recover.
"He'd never been sick a day of his life," she said. "When he got caught up in the chlorine spill, he got respiration problems. They told him he only had six months to live because his lungs were ate up so bad."
He did have other health problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure.
He remained on an oxygen tank for the last three months of his life, Ms. Brown said.
Last Thursday, he fell unconscious in the home he shared with his sister for the past 39 years.
"The day before he was breathing hard like someone (who) ran a marathon, even on the oxygen," she said. "He started foaming at the mouth (last) Thursday morning."
He was taken to University Hospital, where he died early Tuesday morning.
"It's clear from the previous literature that people who get substantial exposures to chlorine have a possibility of long-term health effects," said Dr. Jerry Gibson of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Those effects can be in the lungs, eyes and on the skin, he said.
But there's also not a lot known about the effects of chlorine inhalation.
"There is particularly a lot that isn't quantified," he said.
Mr. Simmons said an autopsy was to be conducted soon.
"The autopsy is going to give us more information," he said.
Ms. Brown said she is experiencing long-term effects of the chlorine spill, too.
"Every other day I have bad nose bleeds," she said. "(The chlorine) is still here. You can smell it worse at night."
Associated Press reports were used in this article.
Reach Krista Zilizi at (803) 648-1395, ext. 106, or krista.zilizi@augustachronicle.com.
