An employee of La Sentinelle Ltée was seriously burned on Monday morning 31 July when a drum containing a flammable product exploded. He was doing welding work in a workshop on the company’s premises in Baie du Tombeau. The 61-year-old welder, who lives in Rivière du Rempart, was taken to the Wellkin clinic in Moka. An investigation has been launched at the Baie du Tombeau police station to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the fire, which left one man seriously injured.
The accident occurred at around 8.45am on Monday 31 July in a welding workshop on the premises of La Sentinelle Ltée. The man in his sixties was carrying out welding work. At one point, two other employees working in the maintenance section came to engage him in conversation. They then returned to their workshop next to the welding shop. Everything suggests that it was a drum containing a flammable product that exploded.
In a statement made shortly after 10 a.m. on the same day, one of the injured man’s two colleagues, aged 51 and living in Bambous, explained that he heard a bang coming from the welding shop, and when he went outside he saw the shop in flames and smoke coming from there. At the same time he saw the victim, who had been transformed into a human torch. He said he grabbed a fire extinguisher to put out the flames on his body and inside the workshop.
The injured man was evacuated to the Wellkin clinic in a company vehicle. After receiving treatment, he was admitted. The workshop was secured by police officers from the Baie du Tombeau police station. In addition to the police photographer and draughtsman, an inspector from the Ministry of Labour, an officer from Health and Safety and an officer from the Mauritius Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene. The Ministry’s Energy Services Division has been informed of the accident.
