London (AFP)

The family of a nine-year-old Londoner who died of a severe asthma attack in 2013 will know on Wednesday whether her death was due to air pollution, after a series of hearings that have come to an end Friday in London.

Southwark London Deputy Coroner Philip Barlow, who has been examining the background to Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah's death for 10 days, announced on Friday that he will rule on Wednesday at 11:00 GMT and local on the reason for his death.

If he concludes that air pollution directly caused Ella's death, it would be a UK first.

Mr Barlow could issue a report to prevent future deaths from air pollution.

"I am here to seek justice for my daughter," Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah told AFP after the hearing.

This teacher also hopes for a decision that "has a positive impact on the lives of many children".

"People probably don't realize how dangerous air pollution is (...) I think it's a public health emergency and more work needs to be done" to improve the quality air, she added.

Her daughter Ella died on February 15, 2013 of a severe asthma attack after nearly three years of repeated attacks and more than 30 hospitalizations.

The girl, athletic and musician, lived less than 30 meters from the South Circular, a busy road in South London.

In 2014, justice determined that she died of acute respiratory failure caused by severe asthma.

But those findings were overturned in 2019 and a new investigation was ordered due to new scientific evidence, including the 2018 report by air pollution expert Stephen Holgate.

Mr Holgate had noted a "striking link" between Ella's hospitalizations and recorded peaks of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and airborne particles, the most harmful pollutants, near her home.

In a hearing on Tuesday, this expert said that an "over-secretion" of mucus in Ella's lungs caused prolonged coughing fits that had worsened during the winter of 2012, "when the air pollution was getting worse in his neighborhood. "

Conversely, "during the summer months when air pollution levels were decreasing overall, his airways were able to recover," he explained.

Between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths occurring in the UK each year are estimated to be linked to air pollution.

© 2020 AFP