VICTORIA – Blasting operations at a Shawnigan Lake, B.C., gravel pit have been suspended until an investigation determines what caused an explosion that cost one woman her arm and injured two men.
Tuesday’s blast at Mid-Island Aggregate, sent jagged rock chunks and shards flying 500 metres.
Betty Hopkins, 57, of Victoria, who works for the company, lost her right arm when she tried to shield herself from a piece of rock.
Daniel Butts was hit on the head by a rock and David Clark suffered minor injuries. Both men are 46.
The rock knocked Butts’s hard hat off his head. RCMP Const Mike O’Connell said: “A six- or seven-dollar hard hat saved Butt’s life for sure.”
All three employees were rushed to Victoria General Hospital. Butts remained in hospital Wednesday in stable condition. Clark was released after treatment.
Hopkins is the partner of Ted Donley Jr., owner of Ted’s Blasting, the company contracted by Mid-Island Aggregate to blast the rock. Donley could not be reached for comment.
Get daily National news
When contacted Wednesday, Mid-Island Aggregate Ltd., expressed concern for the injured workers.
“At this point, we are seriously concerned about the well-being of the injured and continue to be so,” Randy Thiessen, chief financial officer of the corporate group, said in a telephone interview.
Thiessen said the pit’s mining operations were shut down Wednesday. But trucks continued to enter the business to load up.
He said the pit had been in operation for about three years, has about six employees on-site at any given time, and has experienced no accidents until now.
The investigation is being led by the province’s Ministry of Energy and Mines.
A spokesman for Energy and Mines said information will be collected over the next few days, analyzed by a blast expert and a report is expected in several weeks.
Thiessen said the company had hired engineers to assist with the investigation and also will be conducting its own internal investigation.
Company owner, Russ Crawford, who is a director of Aggressive Excavating Ltd., according to corporate listings, could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, operations at a neighbouring gravel pit, South Island Aggregates, began on Wednesday morning with an impromptu safety meeting.
“When these things happen it’s a bit of wake-up call,” said South Island Aggregates operations and general manager Rick Hannah. “We’re saddened by the whole thing.”
Hannah said while mining is a dangerous business, safety precautions are always followed to ensure people are completely off a blast site.
“Safety is such a big concern on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate that this happened. They’re just lucky no one was killed.”
Hannah said he was in the office when then the explosion occurred and knew instantly something was wrong.
“When the blast happened, just the sound and the way it shook the building was not normal,” said Hannah. “I knew in my stomach something was wrong.”
“It felt like a car bomb had gone off,” he said. “Just the sound of it was scary.”
Hannah said rock chunks the size of softballs showered the parking lot of his company’s operation and a big rock chunk just narrowly missed one man.
“It would have killed him instantly.”
Victoria Times Colonist
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.