SINGAPORE - Gas Leak at Oil Refinery Kills Worker

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Gas leak at oil refinery kills worker

Co-worker injured badly in fall during incident at Shell plant on Pulau Bukom on Saturday afternoon

By JULYN KANG

July 10, 2000

A WORKER died while another was hurt seriously after they were overwhelmed by gas fumes while working at the Shell refinery at Pulau Bukom on Saturday afternoon.

Police said yesterday that contract worker Tan Beng Soon, 45, and another employee had earlier gone up an 18-m-high structure to work on the walls of a plant in the refinery.

While they were there, they detected a gas leak which apparently came from a valve.

Mr Tan then went to inform his foreman while his co-worker remained behind.

When he returned with his foreman, his co-worker was nowhere in sight.

Soon, the two men were overcome by gas fumes themselves. Mr Tan collapsed on the platform while the foreman managed to climb down to seek help.

But by the time the company doctor arrived, Mr Tan had stopped breathing and was pronounced dead.

The deceased man's 47-year-old co-worker was found unconscious below the platform, with head injuries and fractured legs and left arm.

He was taken to Alexandra Hospital and his condition was listed as critical.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Albert Tan, Shell Eastern Petroleum's general manager for external affairs, said the company regretted the accident and would work with the authorities to find out its cause.

The last fatal accident at the refinery was six years ago, he added.

The Police Coast Guard is handling the investigations.

In April this year, three SingTel contract workers died while working inside a manhole in Chulia Street.

The three, two Bangladeshis and their Singaporean foreman, were apparently overwhelmed by hydrogen-sulphide gas produced by sludge and decomposed material in the manhole.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/sin3_0710.html

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), July 10, 2000


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