West Pharmaceuticals Explosion in North Carolina

Fox News | 01.29.03 | Me

[kcvl]

Plant employees over 200 people...

[wimpycat]

Wow! This is near my hometown. I'm not near a TV, but it sounds awful. I certainly hope no one is killed and I hope the injured recover quickly. They need to move those injured to ECU Hospital in Greenville, if they can make it. It's not too far. That's a much better hospital and they have a trauma unit. Lenior, I'm afraid, is your typical county hospital. ECU is the closest good hospital anywhere around.

As for the company, can anybody say "Full OSHA Inspection"?

[Constitution Day]

Wow!

[JennysCool]

Wonder how the plane rumor got going so fast?

[wimpycat]

It's in that TransGlobal International Trade Zone, or whatever the hell you call it, too. Kinston International Airport, indeed, LOL.

[kcvl]

26.60 miles

[mhking]

 

Live stream via WRAL/Raleigh (Real Player): http://mfile.akamai.com/7882/live/reflector:24038.ram

[wimpycat]

Good Heavens!!!

[kcvl]

Burn hospital around? That's what they are saying they need.

[concerned about politics]

Wonder how the plane rumor got going so fast?

Some lady on the phone to Fox. It was so sudden and so huge, the lady at the school first thought it was a plane or something.

[jriemer]

No....no.....rubber products......stoppers for bottles, the rubber in vials of medicine, stuff like that.

West Pharm is a plastic injection molding company. They make caps, liners, stoppers and such for bottles of all sorts. I have worked with their Engineering group out of PA for many years. They're good people.

There have been explosions of plastic polymer manufacturers at their reactors in the past but it is highly unlikely that such an explosion could happen a plastic molding plant. The two industries have nowhere near the same types of equipment.

God protect those men and women.

jriemer

[mhking]

From WRAL-TV/DT - Raleigh:

Massive Explosion, Fire At Kinston Pharmaceutical Plant

POSTED: 2:07 p.m. EST January 29, 2003
UPDATED: 2:57 p.m. EST January 29, 2003

KINSTON, N.C. -- Emergency crews are at the scene of a massive explosion at a pharmaceutical plant near Kinston's Global TransPark.

The explosion happened at 1:30 p.m. at West Pharmaceutical.

A spokeswoman at Lenoir Memorial Hospital said at least three people in critical condition with burns were at the hospital and more victims were expected.

Helicopters from Duke and UNC Hospitals have been dispatched to the scene and crews at those hospitals are awaiting victims.

Ambulances and other emergency vehicles are lined up along Rouse Road, near the blast site.

The force of the explosion reportedly rocked nearby homes and buildings, including Parrott Academy. The private school, located less than a mile away, is being evacuated after windows were reported blown out from the force of the blast. There are no reports of injuries at the school.

Lee Edwards, who lives beside the plant, said debris from two 800-feet-tall water towers flew in the air and the woods behind the company were on fire.

"All I can see is just the black smoke, just billowing up in the air. I mean, the whole sky is black," he said. "It exploded. It knocked me over."

West Pharmaceutical employees 255 people at the plant; however, there is no word how many people were working at the time of the blast.

The company produces syringe plungers and IV fitments.

Early reports suggested a plane crashed into the building. Christopher White, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said no aircraft were involved in the explosion, which occurred near the Global Transpark airport. The airport remained open.

[wimpycat]

I don't mind telling you that NOrth Carolina is one of the best places in the world to get sick or injured. ECU in Greenville is a good hospital--they may have a burn unit. If they don't, UNC-Chapel HIll Hospital has a burn unit. Duke University has a world-famous hospital. I can't remember where the Shriners Children's Hospital/Burn Center is located.

[Constitution Day]

It's that stupid Global TransPORK... I mean TransPark.
You know, the one we folks down east were REQUIRED to pay an extra fee on our license plates for.

Grrrr!

[JennysCool]

Kinston International Airport, indeed

Near the "Global Transpark," no less...

[Howlin]

When they say transferring patients to Durham and Chapel Hill, they mean the Burn units at Duke and Carolina.

[Grampa Dave]

They are also in biotech and some of the newer drug delivery systems where needles and mechanicals aren't needed: (link to this side of the company)

[Mo1]

The guy talking with Shep says the noise from the blast could be heard 2 miles away

They still don't know what caused it

[cyncooper]

Shep Smith was just on the phone with a gentleman (I did not get his name or position) but he heard the explosion 2 miles away.

[wimpycat]

They will be in good hands at Duke or Carolina (or ECU). If they can be saved, they will be.

[JennysCool]

two 800-feet-tall water towers flew in the air

What a chilling sight that must have been!