Tank Explosion Severely Burns Six Workers in Mississippi

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Six workers suffered severe burns following a Friday morning explosion at a oil drilling storage tank in central Mississippi.

The workers sustained burns on at least 50% of their bodies, with one being burned from head to toe, said Minor Norman, the Madison County Fire Coordinator. Two people were airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for treatment.

Norman said the cause of the explosion was still under investigation Friday. The crews were conducting maintenance on the tanks, which are used to hold waste water from oil well operations, according to local news reports.

“We’re not sure what caused it,” Norman said. “There were four storage tank facilities to hold products from oil wells. They (the workers) were in the process of changing out two tanks with new fiberglass tanks. They were getting ready to go into service when the older tank exploded.”

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality was called to the site to investigate.

The injured people are employees of W.S. Red Hancock, a Mississippi-based “welding and fabrication” company. Company officials told WLBT-TV they were assessing the situation Friday but had no additional information.

Personnel from the Mississippi Oil and Gas Board, the state fire marshal, law enforcement and emergency first responders were working the scene and had blocked a road to the area.

“We’re just doing our due diligence now and don’t want to say anything that’s inaccurate, and we’re deeply sad for the injuries sustained and hope to have more information shortly,” Jess New, executive director of the Oil and Gas Board, told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper.

Photo: The road to oil well storage site is blocked after a tank explosion in Flora, Miss., on Friday. (Hannah Mattix/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)