KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana |UPDATE: Trunkline LNG Construction Accident

UPDATE: Trunkline LNG Construction Accident

April 21, 2008

Reported By: Natalie Grise

UPDATE:

We have an update on the conditions of the four contract workers injured yesterday in an industrial accident at Trunkline LNG.

 The two men brought to Saint Patrick's Hospital were released from the hospital last night.

 One of the men brought to Lake Charles Memorial is now in stable condition while the other man remains in critical condition today.

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The four workers involved in the Monday afternoon accident were installing pipe at the Trunkline LNG terminal on Big Lake Road. The construction was part of an infrastructure enhancement project that's been going on at the plant for more than a year.

"This equipment that they were installing, this pipe, was not connected to the LNG terminal when the accident occurred, so there was no fire, no LNG leak or anything like that," says Trunkline LNG Spokesman John Barnett.

Despite those early and incorrect rumors of an explosion, Barnett says what did happen inside the plant was taken just as seriously. Around 2:15 this afternoon, he says, the scaffolding the contract construction workers used somehow gave way, and Acadian Ambulance was called to take the victims to area hospitals.

"We make sure that all the contract employees undergo terminal safety training before they start the work. We do everything we possibly can to keep this from happening," says Barnett.

There's still a lot of information about the accident that we don't know, like how high the scaffolding was, or exactly what happened to cause it to malfunction, but company officials say the investigation into the accident is ongoing, and they hope to get those answers soon.