Owners: “A terrible accident”
In one of the most horrible accidents to ever happen in the butane industry, an employee held a leaking butane tank to remove it from a delivery truck, and the tank exploded, literally blowing the employee to bits, scattering his remains over the vehicle, the street and in the neighbourhood.
Elton “Cookie” Herrera, 25, of Nargusta Street in Belize City, was the victim of the mid-morning explosion at his workplace, Brown’s Butane Gas Service, located on Mopan Street.
Police and Fire Department officials responded to reports of a loud explosion at 10:09 a.m. and found most of Herrera’s remains in the drain opposite Brown’s Butane.
Herrera and two other employees were said to be filling an old, rusty 100-pound cylinder gas tank with a welded bottom when it suddenly exploded.
No one else in the area was injured, but according to eyewitness reports, the tank sailed through the air and landed on the opposite side of the canal on the verandah of a house on Sarstoon Street, about two long blocks away.
The proprietor of Brown’s, Walter “Wally” Brown, told members of the press on the scene shortly afterward, including Amandala, that he does not believe his company is responsible for what happened, emphasizing that the company takes all safety precautions necessary to prevent accidents such as this.
Walter’s son Kirk and his wife, who run the establishment on his behalf, told Amandala this afternoon that employees handling tanks must check for signs of leakage or structural faults in every tank, whether before removing the cylinder from the customer’s premises or at the depot before filling up, and emphasized that the company reserves the right to refuse to fill and to return any tank that shows definite signs of structural faults or leakage, despite complaints from customers, who may go elsewhere to fill the faulty tank.
Usually, according to Kirk Brown, his employees would wet the tank with a combination of soap and water and/or use the gas hose to check the pressure inside of the tank.
Apparently, the tank’s rusted bottom had been re-welded, and Herrera didn’t know. When he checked the tank, he apparently found nothing amiss.
This afternoon, Operations Officer and lead investigator for the Fire Department, Michael Middleton, told Amandala that the Department’s investigations so far found that the tank’s bottom had apparently been “rebuilt” – that is, the bottom of the tank was apparently cut off and a new bottom installed to replace it. The job had not been done properly, and there was a leak.
According to Middleton, a combination of sudden expansion of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, what we commonly call “butane”) inside the tank and the surrounding atmospheric conditions (a hot, sunny day) caused the bottom to fail and give way, causing the tank to take off through the air “like a rocket”. Herrera, reportedly hanging on to the top of the tank while trying to ease the pressure, had his body blasted open by the impact.
Kirk Brown told us that from what his employees have told him, there was no reason to suspect that the tank was faulty. He added that it was not the first time that the company would have to return a faulty tank.
In a release sent out this evening, the company expressed its “sincere regret and condolences” to their employee’s family over the “tragic freak accident” at his workplace.
Elton had only been working at Brown’s for two months, and today his employers described him as a “humble, honest, quiet person.”
Brown’s has been in the business of delivering butane to Belizeans for more than 20 years, and in the release the company spoke of its “exemplary safety record”, having “never had any major incident or injury” prior to today’s tragedy.
The release says that the company intends to “continue to implement strict guidelines for the handling of butane tanks, and will immediately launch an investigation to determine if there can be any further strengthening of procedures to ensure that another tragedy of this type will never occur.”
Kirk Brown told us that he has been to speak with Elton’s family, who live the next street over, and promised to assist with his funeral expenses.
Elton’s father, Gregorio Herrera, told Amandala that he had always warned his son to be careful when at work, but expected only to hear about a tank falling on his foot or crushing his hand – painful, but non-fatal occurrences.
Therefore, when a passerby relayed the news to him in his yard, minutes after personally hearing the blast, he told us, it was “totally unexpected.” He remembers being just “shocked; I couldn’t even get up to go to the scene.”
While Herrera said he does not know for sure what responsibility Brown’s has for his son’s death, he believes it may be necessary to relocate all gas companies out of residential areas, and if possible, outside of City limits. (In addition to Brown’s, Belize Western Energy Limited (BWEL), Gas Tomza Limited and Southside Gas Depot on Central American Boulevard all have their depots within City limits.)
“It is not only my son; that flying tank could have knocked somebody out and killed them, too. Frankly, I think the City Council and whoever is responsible for that sort of thing should relocate them.”
The Fire Service’s Middleton in speaking to the press at his office this afternoon, including Amandala, said that for several years now the Fire Service and Department of the Environment, among other governmental organizations, have been after the gas companies to stop filling tanks that are corroded or damaged.
While declining to say whether Brown’s was an offender, Middleton allowed that he would, if necessary, support the removal of the companies to safe areas outside the City, regardless of how much money they would lose.
“That is no concern of ours; at the Fire Service we have to think about safety first. No amount of money in the world can bring back a life,” Middleton said in explanation of his position.
Brown’s Butane is currently closed down for business, until tomorrow. Police and Fire Department investigations continue.