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| 2 dead. Hospitals locked down following chemical accident. - |
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Eliza
 Posted:
Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:31 am |
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2 dead. Hospitals locked down following chemical accident.
Chemical exposure kills two
By Tim Logan and
Ken Leiser
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Aug. 30 2008
Two workers were killed and at least seven sickened Saturday by toxic powder at
a chemical blending plant in East St. Louis, officials said.
A pile of the chemical remained inside Ro-Corp Inc., at 643 North 20th Street,
just off State Street, but there was no immediate risk to residents, City
manager Robert Betts said at the scene.
He said the FBI has joined the investigation because of questions about the
mixing process. He said terrorism was not suspected.
Betts confirmed the two deaths but did not provide any details of who they were
or where they died.
Six people seeking treatment at mid-afternoon caused precautionary closing of
emergency rooms at St. Anthony’s Medical Center in south St. Louis County and
DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton.
A seventh victim was seen at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where the ER remained
open. Other hospitals may have seen more.
Medical examiners in St. Louis and St. Louis County, and the Madison County
coroner’s office, reported no such deaths Saturday. The St. Clair County
coroner could not be reached.
The victims were exposed to nitroaniline, a highly toxic powder that can attack
the respiratory system and get into the bloodstream, said Chief Jim Silvernail
of the Mehlville Fire Protection District, which includes St. Anthony’s.
"This chemical is bad," he said.
Neither hospital staffs nor other patients were believed to have been poisoned,
but the emergency rooms were quarantined for decontamination. DePaul’s was
expected to reopen late Saturday night. There was no word on St. Anthony’s
reopening. Each saw three of the victims.
The patients arrived on their own. It was not clear why they sought help so far
from where they were exposed. Betts said some had been seen in the ER of
Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital in downtown East St. Louis and sent elsewhere
for more specialized care.
The victims at DePaul were reported to have been admitted in fair condition.
Conditions of the ones at the other hospitals were not available.
Ro-Corp is a part of the St. Louis-based G.S. Robins and Company, a chemical
supplier, according to its website. The site says, "Ro-Corp is a
packaging/repackaging facility for dry materials. Bulk storage, rail access,
milling and dry blending are among the services available at this site."
No one responded to a message left with the company Saturday night.
Betts said there was no need for an evacuation around the plant. "The situation
has been isolated and contained and we know where the substance is," he said.,
He pledged that city officials would investigate compliance with the law. "If
it’s the sort of chemical that can kill if you touch it, then no, we don’t want
that in our community," he said.
Emergency crews remained there late Saturday night but made no public
statement. Four emergency workers were taken from the scene by ambulance
Saturday night for precautionary examination, officials said.
Dan Browning, who was already in St. Anthony’s ER with a liver ailment, said
the staff reacted quickly after the three powder victims arrived together.
"They came in ... and all of a sudden they put this quarantine thing up. Nobody
knew what was going on."
After a while, he said, people who had been in the ER were offered face masks.
Allowed to leave after about five hours there, he said he would seek treatment
at another hospital.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 1397
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:31 pm |
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CORRECTION
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Contradicting earlier reports, authorities now say no workers died in a toxic powder spill Saturday at an East St. Louis, Ill., chemical plant.
Eight workers were hospitalized from the incident involving nitroaniline, which was spilled at the Ro-Corp Inc. plant when a worker or workers dropped a drum containing the powder. But the company president says no one was killed, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.
"We really don't know what happened here," said Steve Robins, president of G.S. Robins & Co. of St. Louis, Ro-Corp's parent firm. An FBI spokesman in Springfield, Ill., also confirmed the spill caused no deaths.
The information that two workers had died came from East St. Louis City Manager Robert Betts, the newspaper said, adding he could not be reached for comment to clarify the statement.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
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Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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