Chemical Safety Board will investigate Barbour County explosion

ARDEN, W.Va. — The U.S. Chemical Safety Board tweeted Thursday afternoon it would be sending a team to Barbour County to investigate Thursday’s chemical tank explosion that killed two men and injured a third worker.

“Sending team to examine fatal accident in Barbour County,” the tweet said.

The state Fire Marshal’s Office also posted a message on social media in connection with its ongoing investigation.

“The cause is undetermined at this time but any criminal activity has been ruled out. The SFMO is assisting the DEP and local Barbour law enforcement in this matter,” investigators said.

Meanwhile, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed Wednesday morning that one of the two men killed in a Barbour County explosion Wednesday was the owner of Midland Resources Recovery, Inc.

Midland Resources Recovery specializes in gas odorization. The company has a site located on Rt. 119 outside of Philippi, which is where Wednesday’s explosion occurred.

According to a representative from the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Public Affairs, the owner and two employees were in the process of decommissioning an old odorant tank when the explosion occurred.

According to the Midland Resources Recovery website, an odorant tank provides an odor or smell to natural gas in order to better detect leaks.

The explosion claimed the life of a 19-year-old from Barbour County and the company owner, who was from Canada.

The USDL rep said the third victim, flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital Wednesday, was in critical condition as of Wednesday night. The Barbour County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the victim was out of surgery late in the evening Wednesday. He was said to have suffered “pretty substantial” injuries, according to Chief Deputy Brett Carpenter.

According to a preliminary Department of Environmental Protection report, the Barbour County site specialized in the odorizer Mercaptan.

In recent years the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has investigated several cases in West Virginia including the 2014 Freedom Industries Chemical spill and water emergency.





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