EL DORADO — The U.S. Chemical Safety Board sent an investigation team Tuesday to determine the cause of an explosion and fire that killed three workers.
The abandoned oil tank west of El Dorado in Union County exploded Monday afternoon, according to the Union County sheriff ’s office.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality are also investigating, said Jerry Thomas, the county’s director of emergency management.
The sheriff’s office said it is too early in the investigation to determine the cause of the explosion. But officials said they think the ignition of vapors in or near the old oil tanks could have caused the blast.
The three men were employed by Long Brothers Oil Co. in Norphlet. The tank exploded as they were disassembling a battery, officials have said.
The three victims, whose bodies were sent to the Medical Examiner’s office in Little Rock, have been tentatively identified, said Curtis Butterfield, county coroner.
Butterfield, who spent Tuesday morning at the accident scene, said the intensity of the explosion and subsequent fire left only DNA, tattoos and dental records as the primary means to identify the victims.
“There’s going to be several items the medical examiner is going to consider,” he said. “This was a bad, bad fire and explosion.”
A spokesman for Young’s Funeral Directors in El Dorado identified the victims as Coley Gene Lee, 24, of El Dorado; Lee Randall Ross, 24, of Smackover; and Shane Chelette, 38, of Louann.
Information for this article was contributed by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 05/23/2012