ST. JOHN, Netherlands –
Eight people were sent to hospital on Friday after an explosion at a refinery in Come By Chance, Netherlands, about 150 kilometers west of St. John’s, police said.
RCMP said some were seriously injured in the blast and had to be airlifted to St. John’s, although Cpl. Jolene Garland could not confirm how much.
“The fire caused by the explosion has been contained with no further danger to the work site and all employees have been accounted for,” Mounties said in a news release Friday evening. Both police and the province’s occupational health and safety department have launched an investigation into the incident, the release said.
Refinery owner Braya Renewable Fuels said in a statement earlier Friday evening that the company would cooperate fully with authorities’ investigations.
“We will do everything we can to support (the injured) and their families during this time,” the statement said.
The refinery is a major source of employment in the town of Come By Chance and its neighboring community of Arnold’s Cove. In total, the two municipalities are home to about 1,200 people.
The refinery was producing oil before being sold in November, although it has been idle for more than a year amid the collapse in global oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas-based private equity firm Cresta Fund Management bought a controlling stake in the refinery and announced it would be converted to produce renewable diesel and sustainable jet fuel. The facility and its operator were then renamed Braya Renewable Fuels.
As of Friday, that conversion from an oil production plant to biofuel production was still in progress, a company spokesman said.
Local police asked people to stay away from the refinery so as not to disturb emergency crews or investigators. Later Friday, local RCMP in Clarenville, N.D., closed the parking lot of a Sobeys grocery store to traffic so an emergency plane could land and pick up injured people.
Garland said several planes, including a Cormorant helicopter, were called to transport injured people from the small hospital in Clarenville to the provincial capital for treatment.
Prime Minister Andrew Fury tweeted his concern for those injured in the blast.
“I have spoken with company and union representatives to share my concern and good wishes for the injured workers, their families, friends and colleagues,” Fury wrote. “Thank you to everyone who responded to this incident.”
Federal Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan also tweeted about the incident. He represents the Newfoundland district of St. John’s South-Mount Pearl.
“Our thoughts are all with the injured workers at the Come By Chance refinery and their families,” O’Regan wrote.
We are very sorry to learn of the accident at the Come By Chance Refinery. I spoke with company and union representatives to share concern and good wishes for the injured workers, their families, friends and colleagues. Thank you to everyone who responded to this incident.
— Andrew Furey (@FureyAndrew) September 2, 2022
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 2, 2022.
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