EDMONTON — A man who was critically injured in an explosion at a northern Alberta oilsands site earlier this month died in hospital Monday.
Dave Williams was admitted to the burn unit at the University of Alberta Hospital after an explosion at Nexen’s Long Lake facility on Friday, Jan. 15. Occupational Health and Safety confirmed the 30-year-old died Monday evening.
Williams was changing out valves on a compressor when the explosion happened. His co-worker, 52-year-old Drew Foster, was killed in the blast.
READ MORE: Man killed in Alberta oilsands plant explosion identified
Family members said Williams was originally from Scotchtown, Nova Scotia. He was a journeyman millwright at the Nexen Long Lake Project.
After the explosion, Williams’ cousin Kelly MacEachern said his parents and three brothers came to be at his side in hospital. He was in an induced coma with third-degree burns, MacEachern said.
The Nexen plant, about 80 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, was shut down following the deadly explosion. A large portion of the plant was already not in operation because of a pipeline rupture last July, which resulted in about five million litres of bitumen, sand and produced water being leaked. The break occurred about one kilometre from the Long Lake plant.
READ MORE: Nexen’s Fort McMurray pipeline spill one of Canada’s biggest ever
Calgary-based Nexen Energy ULC was acquired by China’s state-owned CNOOC Ltd. more than two years ago.
Long Lake is designed to produce up to 72,000 barrels of bitumen per day.
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