Explosion at La Brea

But fortunately according to reports the residents and the workers on the job site were not seriously affected. The eight-inch gas line ruptured at about 8 am yesterday after the wheel of an excavator rolled over the line. The excavator belonged to a contracting firm that was hired to clear a piece of land on the estate. A worker told Newsday they heard a loud "boom" and when they looked up they saw a cloud of black and white smoke pitching into the air. The worker said they stopped what they were doing and quickly scampered out of the immediate vicinity. Petrotrin officials promptly arrived on the site and cordoned off the area. Within half-an-hour they were able to contain the gas leak, a worker said. Resident Lenard Alexander, who lived almost a quarter mile away from the site, said he was in his duck pen when he heard a loud explosion. Alexander said within minutes the area was white.

Alexander and his family locked themselves inside the house and called the police. "The place had a bad scent and everybody was breathing short but we all right now. But we still afraid to light anything," he said. The policemen, he said, took a statement and advised them to leave the area if they felt sick. Alexander complained, "The entire village could blow up here and no body will care." Numerous attempts to contact Petrotrin officials yesterday proved futile. However, UNC Fyzabad MP, Chandresh Sharma, who visited the site, said yesterday’s incident was a classic example why Government needs to implement the Occupational Safety and Health bill. In the event of a serious accident on the jobsite, Sharma said Government did not have a proper disaster-preparedness plan in place.

Referring to yesterday’s incident, he lamented, "Point Fortin hospital is short staffed and does not have the technology or equipment to deal with a disaster."