Death toll at Pinskdrev plant blast rises (Video)

At the moment three persons are reported to be killed by the explosion at the plant in Pinsk.

One of them died in the hospital today night, the Emergency Situations Ministry informs.

One person died immediately, the body of the second one was found yesterday evening under the debris of the building.

At the moment 18 persons stay in hospitals of Pinsk, Brest and Minsk. The condition of most of them is called grave by doctors, and three patients have extremely grave condition.

The blast and fire in the chipboard workshop of Pinskdrev plant occurred on October 25, 2010 in daytime. As a result of the explosion about 100 square metres of roof and about 400 square metres of walls collapsed.

The supposed reason of the tragedy was be an explosion of wood dust deposits in the result of violations of operating the wood pellets production equipment.

An emergency situations commission of Pinsk city executive committee, the Emergency Situations Ministry and a group of investigators from the prosecutor’s office of Brest region work at the site.

Workers of the plywood plant told to the European Radio for Belarus that after the blast the injured were carried away with bad burns. People were almost nude, their clothes had burnt completely.

Workers that their working clothes are made of synthetic cloth, so it ignited immediately. Workers say that they addressed the management with issues of workplace safety many times. They suspected that there was a high concentration of wood dust in the air. However laboratory workers said that everything was fine.

The plant is situated in the city. Dwellers of the houses nearby say that some smell is always felt from the plant, especially in the evening or in the night. The plant works in three shifts. On October 24 in the evening the unpleasant smell was very strong.

Citizens addressed the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service, local deputies, local press several times and raised the issue of ecological situation in the district of the enterprise. However they were every time told that the indices of air pollution were normal. People believe that no one can solve the problem of Pinskdrev, as it is a ; principal employer and mainstay of the entire city, while the CEO of the holding company is a very influential person, even at the level of the country.