Feb. 9, 2011, 12:57PM:
[Text] Family members of the contract worker missing after an explosion and fire at a Chambers County natural gas plant Tuesday afternoon said they fear he may have died in the blast.
Mark Shaw confirmed his brother Rick Shaw, of Baytown, is the worker missing after a pipeline failed at the Enterprise Products facility 35 miles east of Houston yesterday shortly after noon and produced a towering fireball that burned for hours. Rick’s truck is still parked outside the facility, Mark said.
“It’s not looking good,” Mark said. “One of the workers that was working with him said he was in the middle of the gas cloud when it happened, so I don’t really think he got out. It was a big fire.”
Mark said Rick is divorced with two daughters, ages 13 and 9.
“He’s always working real hard, working double-time and overtime shifts for his kids so he can take them places,” Mark said. “His two kids are like his world.”
After receiving word of the incident, most of the family met at Mark’s mother’s home, he said, dispersing shortly after 1 a.m. Mark said he then went to the plant to seek information from the company, but left unsatisfied.
“I was up all night. I didn’t sleep at all,” he said. “They’re not giving us any information at all.”
Mark said his brother Jeff, an operator at the plant, had gotten Rick the contract job. Mark had heard the company was having problems the day before and was preparing to shut down parts of the plant.
Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey would not comment on Tuesday on whether the plant was having mechanical troubles leading up to the event; Rainey did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.
“He loves his job,” Mark said of his missing brother. “I’m thinking somebody told him, ‘See if you can go stop the leak so they don’t have to shut the plant down.’” [End Text]
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7419912.html
“It’s not looking good,” Mark said.
No, it doesn't. It pretty much turns the story into a tragedy instead of just an accident.
Thankfully only one person is lost.