One dead and two seriously injured after explosion and fire that followed at Tarbert power station
Investigations have begun into the explosion at the Tarbert ESB plant in Kerry which killed one man and left two others seriously injured.
Mr Patrick McCrohan (38) Doon, Tralee, died in Cork University Hospital yesterday morning from injuries sustained during the explosion and ensuing fire.
A second man, Mr Michael Healy (48) from the Tarbert area, remains in the burns unit of Cork University Hospital with his family by his bedside. "He's critical, he's quite ill," said a hospital spokeswoman last night.
A third man, Mr Dermot Thornton (43), was moved from Tralee General Hospital to Cork yesterday for treatment.
His condition was described as stable last night.
"We have launched our own investigation into what happened and are co-operating fully with the Health and Safety Authority investigation," an ESB spokesman said yesterday.
"It's very important to find out why the explosion happened. There has been fire damage to the contents of the room so it's difficult to say now," he said.
When asked by The Irish Times if the circuit-breaker equipment used was prone to exploding, the ESB spokesman said it was "highly unusual".
"Regular inspections would have been carried out. It was routine equipment used very regularly in an electrical plant," he added.
All three had been working in the switchgear room in an upper floor when the accident happened at lunchtime on Thursday. They had changed a pump in the plant which was operated by switches in the room.
They were operating a circuit breaker when it exploded, causing a fire to break out simultaneously according to the ESB spokesman.
The men escaped from the room and were given first aid by six employees at the scene.
A doctor from Glyn also arrived as well as two units from Listowel Fire Brigade and two ambulances. It took firefighters 2½ hours to extinguish the inferno which kept reigniting due to the extremely high temperatures. All 320 people at the plant were evacuated.
Mr McCrohan died with his family by his side yesterday. He had worked at the plant since joining it as an apprentice electrician in 1981. He was a single man.
The parish priest of Tarbert, Father Maurice Brick, yesterday celebrated Mass in the canteen of the plant in memory of Mr McCrohan and to pray for his two injured colleagues.
"The workers are totally shocked and devastated, there was a palpable sense of numbness today," Father Brick said.
"The Tarbert power station is a community within a community. It draws its workforce from north Kerry and west Limerick and anything that happens is felt deeply," he said.
The Health and Safety Authority has launched its own investigation into the explosion.
The Tarbert station generates enough electricity to power 700,000 houses.