Fuel tank blast kills man

Press, 1 June 1988, Page 3

Fuel tank blast kills man

PA Greymouth A Kumara man died instantly yesterday in a fuel tank blast at a Dobson transport yard. A Labour Department spokesman, Mr Mike Cooney, said the man was using gas-cutting gear to fit a tap to an underground fuel tank. A spark apparently ignited fumes in the tank, causing an explosion “which would have immediately killed him, in my opinion,” Mr Cooney said. “The end of the tank blew 30 metres through the air, into a garage building, demolishing it/’i he said. The police were called to the Baxters Transport yard after the 8.54 a.m. explosion. The name of the dead man had not been released last evening. A' spokesman for the company declined to comment on the accident. A nearby resident, Mr Graham Minto, who was passing the yard at the time of the accident, said it was “like a huge bomb.” “I was there within seconds; there were flames everywhere and black smoke just poured out. “When it first went off I thought it was an old mine shaft that had gone, or someone doing some massive blasting.” A pall of smoke could be seen skm away after the explosion, which rocked the entire former mining town.