Fire-fighters search' for refinery blast victims

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 8

Fire-fighters search' for refinery blast victims

NZPA-AP Romeoville, Illinois At least 14 people were killed and nearly two dozen injured in a multi milliondollar fire and explosion at a Union Oil Company refinery in Romeoville, southwest of Chicago. Fire departments continued to search through the twisted rubble for victims. Rescuers said that they believed two more people were still unaccounted for. The explosion on Tuesday night shook buildings as far as 25km away. Company officials said that the death and injury toll would have been much higher had the

blast occurred during the day when more people were at work. The explosion apparently was caused by a mechanical failure in a processing tower, a company spokesman said. Pieces of metal and tanks were blown nearly 2km from the blast site. Diana Herbst, who lives near the refinery, said, “I thought we had suffered a nuclear explosion. It was so hot, you couldn’t even stand it. I heard a noise, a big boom. The patio glass door blew back at me, it shattered.” M truck-driver who was unloading sulphuric acid inside the plant said that he

heard a warning whistle when the initial problem apparently was discovered. “All of a sudden I heard a blast,” said the driver, Bradley Turner. “There was something like a faint noise and I saw objects flying into the sky. After that there was a tremendous explosion and we were down on our bellies.” The processing tower where the problem originated is one in which crude oil is separated into its various end products such as petrol and fuel oil. Fire-fighters from several surrounding towns fought the* blaze, through the night before bringing it tinder control.