20150824 Myanmar Police charge junior engineer over fire at MEC gas factory
Myanmar Aug 24 2015 “Factories”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 1 to 9
Police charge junior engineer over fire at MEC gas factory
Updated: 2015-08-24-12:00
Firefighters attempt to put out a blaze in a Yangon gas factory on August 21.
Three workers were injured in a subsequent fire that engulfed the Myanmar Economic Corporation factory in Botahtaung township. Nobody was killed in the blaze, which erupted around 11:30am while gas cylinders were being filled with acetylene. Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames about an hour later.
Police Major Sein Wai initially said they would charge the “administrator” of the factory, but yesterday Botahtaung police said they had instead charged a junior engineer with two offences.
U Maung Thu faces charges of causing hurt by an act endangering life and negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter, which carry potential prison terms of two and three years respectively.
Police said they took action against U Maung Thu because he was on duty at the time of the blast.
Police blamed a gas leak for the fire, which resulted in 10,000 cubic metres of gas being burned off.
“Three workers have minor injuries because of gas flame and some accidents,” Police Major Sein Wai said.
Members of the Noble Heart NGO transferred the injured workers to the hospital with their ambulance. Noble Heart volunteer Ma Thandar confirmed that no one died in the fire.
“I heard two explosions,” said a resident who lived near the factory, on Than Hlut Sune Road.
MITV quoted an official from the factory as saying that three gas cylinders exploded. The broadcaster also reported that it was the second fire in two years at the factory.
In March 2013, a fire broke out at an MEC steel plant in Insein township. The fire started in a storage area for old cars waiting to be melted down.
Web Source: Myanmar Times
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/yangon/16124-police-charge-junior-engineer-over-fire-at-mec-gas-factory.html