Worker cut in two in gas tank blast

A 55-year-old construction worker was killed when a gas tank containing liquid carbon dioxide exploded at a pressurized gas refilling station in Caloocan City shortly before noon yesterday.

Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) team leader Inspector Jessie de la Rosa identified the victim as Crisanto Oliverio of Kiko, Camarin, Caloocan. While there were several other workers in the area at the time of the explosion, no one else was injured or killed.

Investigators said Oliverio’s body was cut in two at the waist as he was hit by flying shrapnel when the iron tank disintegrated.

The explosion was of such magnitude that the victim’s upper torso was thrown some 15 meters from the blast site.

Teresita Lupena, an employee of the Caloocan Gas Corp. station located along Gen. Luis street in Barangay Kaybiga said Oliverio, who was doing repair work on the station’s roof, was spotted walking back to work after getting his tools when the tank exploded at 11:35 a.m.

Several 54-kilogram iron tanks filled with 22 kilos of compressed gas were inside the station at the time of the incident.

Company officials, who declined to be named, said liquid carbon dioxide, a non-flammable gas, was being used in combination with other pressurized gases to fill fire extinguishers.

De la Rosa said they have yet to determine the cause of the explosion.

He said they are looking at the possibility that the tank could have been defective. – With Pete Laude