|
 Blast
at Mill Kills 1, Injures 17
USA -- An explosion tore through a paper mill Saturday
after a boiler was inspected, killing a contract worker
and injuring 17 others, the company said.
The explosion
occurred as a boiler at the International Paper mill was
being started after an annual maintenance shutdown in
Redwood, about 30 miles west of Jackson, company
spokeswoman Amy J. Sawyer said in a statement.
"We have accounted
for all IP employees, and no employees were hurt. An
investigation will be conducted to determine the cause
of the accident," she said.
No details were
available about the contractor who was killed, Warren
County deputy coroner Kelda Bailess said.
Five of the injured
were being transferred late Saturday night to a burn
center in Atlanta, said Hazel Hill, nurse supervisor at
River Region Medical Center in Vicksburg.
The others were
treated at the medical center and released, she said.
The paper company
said that it would investigate the explosion and that no
damage estimates were available.
"The recovery
boiler area, its processes and equipment are the most
rigorously documented and monitored of any in the mill,"
it said.
At least 400
employees, including contractors, were on site at the
time of the blast, said John Adams, manager of
environment health and safety. Officials from the
federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration
had arrived to investigate, he said.
"OSHA talked to one
of the contract site managers. They took a look at the
periphery of where the boiler is located because we
can't get into the area proper because it's not safe
yet," Adams said.
The blast loosened
some siding in the recovery boiler building — one of six
to eight structures at the plant — but the building was
still standing, he said.
"We're still trying
to get to the bottom of the details, and we have to
secure the boiler. We have to make sure that the floors
in the recovery boiler area are safe and that there
won't be any exposure for the people in that area,"
Adams said.
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