Two die at Walvis pump station
Two people died in an incident at a Walvis Bay municipality pump station last Thursday.
Three other employees were taken to the hospital.
According to Dennis Basson, chief of the Walvis Bay fire brigade, they received a call at about 13:00 from EMed Rescue 24 which indicated that someone was stuck in a pipe.
“When we arrived at the scene, we found two people under the water in one of the pump stations. Unfortunately, it was too late to resuscitate the victims. At this juncture, we are unsure what exactly happened and we are going to conduct internal investigations into the matter,” Basson said.
There is a possibility that the employees were overcome by a poisonous gas while working on the pump station, he said. However, this has not been confirmed.
One of the dead men was employed at the municipality while the other was an employee working for a private contractor.
This was the second incident last week in which an employee died while on duty.
Last Wednesday morning, a 28-year-old Angolan national was hit from behind by a truck inside the NamOPS company yard.
Israel Hamutenya was retrieving his safety gear, which he kept in a drain in the yard, when he was run over by the truck as it drove out of the yard. Hamutenya was contracted by NamOPS to lay interlocks in the yard. His next of kin have been informed.
[email protected]
LEANDREA LOUW
Three other employees were taken to the hospital.
According to Dennis Basson, chief of the Walvis Bay fire brigade, they received a call at about 13:00 from EMed Rescue 24 which indicated that someone was stuck in a pipe.
“When we arrived at the scene, we found two people under the water in one of the pump stations. Unfortunately, it was too late to resuscitate the victims. At this juncture, we are unsure what exactly happened and we are going to conduct internal investigations into the matter,” Basson said.
There is a possibility that the employees were overcome by a poisonous gas while working on the pump station, he said. However, this has not been confirmed.
One of the dead men was employed at the municipality while the other was an employee working for a private contractor.
This was the second incident last week in which an employee died while on duty.
Last Wednesday morning, a 28-year-old Angolan national was hit from behind by a truck inside the NamOPS company yard.
Israel Hamutenya was retrieving his safety gear, which he kept in a drain in the yard, when he was run over by the truck as it drove out of the yard. Hamutenya was contracted by NamOPS to lay interlocks in the yard. His next of kin have been informed.
[email protected]
LEANDREA LOUW
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