One of the six people injured in an explosion Friday at an oil well storage facility on Virlilia Road in Flora has been released from the hospital.
Two others were expected to be released as soon as Monday, a representative of the company that employed the individuals said Monday.
“Three more are going to be there a few weeks,” said A.J. Sanders, an employee of W.S. “Red” Hancock Inc. of Bentonia, which owns the facility where the explosion occurred last Friday morning.
Sanders said he believes all of the injured workers will recover.
“We are blessed,” Sanders said.
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A spokesperson for Merit Health Central where the area burn center is located, and where officials said they believed all of the injured workers were eventually transferred, offered only few details when contacted Monday.
“We can confirm that some of the people involved in the explosion on Friday morning in Madison County have been transported to Merit Health Central, which houses the JMS Burn Center,” said Alicia Carpenter, director of marketing for Merit Health, in an email statement. “We do not have additional information to provide about the condition of these patients at this time.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor said an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation is ongoing on the incident.
“There is no set timeline on the investigation,” said Eric Lucero, director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Labor in Atlanta. “The only requirement is that they conclude the investigation within six months of initiation,” Lucero said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll take the entire six months but it depends on the severity or the complexity of the case.”
Lucero could not provide any further details.
