State-run gas depot worker suffers severe burns in blaze

Wednesday, 14 July 2010 12:41 Mizzima News

Rangoon (Mizzima) – A natural gas station worker suffered severe burns after a fire apparently set off by a welding spark broke out at a state-run facility in Rangoon late on Monday morning, according to fire officials.

The blaze started during welding operations at the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise’s natural gas station No. 028 in Quarter No. 29 of Thuwunna Township at around 11 a.m. A spark hit a gas cylinder, which exploded, causing severe burns to employee Phoe Zaw, 30, a source from the Rangoon Fire Department said.

“Phoe Zaw, a technical worker with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, was the nearest person to the blast, so he sustained deep burns to his chest that resulted in heavy loss of skin layers … he is being treated at Rangoon Hospital”, a fire official from Thuwunna Township Fire Department.

A fireman from Rangoon department said that during installation of a new gas cylinder sparks had spread to an old cylinder used to run gas to delivery vehicles, causing the blast and then the fire. It took 19 fire engines under the supervision of seven management vehicles 30 minutes to douse the blaze, he said.

Gas station manager Nay Lin Tun, 29, would be prosecuted for negligence, an official from the Rangoon Fire Department said.

The blaze destroyed the cylinder storage facility, a building with a concrete floor and a zinc roof, an official the Central Fire Department said.

The fireman from Rangoon Fire Department said: “As soon as the fire started, the main gas was switched off, otherwise the situation would have been much worse.”