By Online Desk
A worker was killed Thursday after a powerful explosion tore through a pharmaceutical chemical plant in Massachusetts’s Newburyport and ripped the roof off the building.
Acting Newburyport Fire Chief Stephen Bradbury did not publicly identify the person who died, but said crew recovered the body from the building.
Initially, the search was hampered by concern about the plant’s structural integrity following the blast that sent flames leaping high above the building and scattering industrial debris nearby.
Bradbury described the blast as a “seven-alarm hazardous materials” event, as reported by AP.
The explosion reportedly took place around 1:00 am at the Sequens/PCI Synthesis plant.
The blast blew a vat from the building 30 feet into a parking lot, Bradbury said in a news release.
Dangerous conditions in the building prevented firefighters from searching for the missing worker at first, Bradbury said at an earlier news conference, as reported by AP.
Fire crews met with a demolition company, the city’s structural engineer and a building inspector.
The factory has also been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workplace safety violations and in 2019, it paid more than $50,000 as a penalty to settle Environmental Protection Agency charges for violating hazardous waste laws, as reported by wivb.com.
While authorities had assured that the plant will not affect the local population, one woman, as per the AP, said she could taste chemicals on her lips. “I could smell chemicals in the air. I could taste it on my lips,” said 58-year-old, Nancy Gero, who works next door to the plant.
A worker was killed Thursday after a powerful explosion tore through a pharmaceutical chemical plant in Massachusetts. https://t.co/wMfF8yUBZc
— News 4 Buffalo (@news4buffalo) May 5, 2023
According to the officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the smoke from the fire blew over the industrial park and into a largely unpopulated area and reported some runoff from firefighting foam.
However, this is not the first time that the chemical plant has come under scrutiny as a fire in 2021 sent smoke pouring out of roof vents and prompted a hazardous materials team to respond, reported AP, citing a fire department statement released at the time. The year prior, authorities said a chemical reaction caused a series of explosions at the plant.
The incident, in Newburyport, has since prompted Democrat Senator Edward Markey to demand accountability from the plant’s owners.
(With inputs from AP)
A worker was killed Thursday after a powerful explosion tore through a pharmaceutical chemical plant in Massachusetts’s Newburyport and ripped the roof off the building.
Acting Newburyport Fire Chief Stephen Bradbury did not publicly identify the person who died, but said crew recovered the body from the building.
Initially, the search was hampered by concern about the plant’s structural integrity following the blast that sent flames leaping high above the building and scattering industrial debris nearby.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Bradbury described the blast as a “seven-alarm hazardous materials” event, as reported by AP.
The explosion reportedly took place around 1:00 am at the Sequens/PCI Synthesis plant.
The blast blew a vat from the building 30 feet into a parking lot, Bradbury said in a news release.
Dangerous conditions in the building prevented firefighters from searching for the missing worker at first, Bradbury said at an earlier news conference, as reported by AP.
Fire crews met with a demolition company, the city’s structural engineer and a building inspector.
The factory has also been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workplace safety violations and in 2019, it paid more than $50,000 as a penalty to settle Environmental Protection Agency charges for violating hazardous waste laws, as reported by wivb.com.
While authorities had assured that the plant will not affect the local population, one woman, as per the AP, said she could taste chemicals on her lips. “I could smell chemicals in the air. I could taste it on my lips,” said 58-year-old, Nancy Gero, who works next door to the plant.
A worker was killed Thursday after a powerful explosion tore through a pharmaceutical chemical plant in Massachusetts. https://t.co/wMfF8yUBZc
— News 4 Buffalo (@news4buffalo) May 5, 2023
According to the officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the smoke from the fire blew over the industrial park and into a largely unpopulated area and reported some runoff from firefighting foam.
However, this is not the first time that the chemical plant has come under scrutiny as a fire in 2021 sent smoke pouring out of roof vents and prompted a hazardous materials team to respond, reported AP, citing a fire department statement released at the time. The year prior, authorities said a chemical reaction caused a series of explosions at the plant.
The incident, in Newburyport, has since prompted Democrat Senator Edward Markey to demand accountability from the plant’s owners.
(With inputs from AP)
