A total of six people were sent to hospital after a gas leak at the Sture terminal near Bergen on Wednesday afternoon.

Police stated that those who were at the plant and inhaled gas, are 17,18,19, 30 and 50 years old. In addition, a 22 year old firefighter sent for observation.

At 9pm Haukeland University Hospital advised that the condition of one 17-year-old is critical, and that it is also serious for the 50-year-old worker. The other four are bruised but expected to make a full recovery.

It was first reported that all five were maintenance workers at the terminal. however Statoil has advised that the two youngest are students who were on the deployment of a high school.

The high school placement program has been in place for many years and we have regularly taken students to the site. We make ourselves available to secondary schools who wish to have their students gain some experience in the industry under the supervision of experienced workers says media contact Ola Anders Skauby VG.

High Concentration

Statoil says that the five workers at the plant were exposed to the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide (H2S) during work on a wastewater treatment plant for oily water inside the terminal.

It has since carried out gas measurements and there is no danger of further exposure. The area is cordoned off. It is too early to say anything about the cause of the incident, the company said in a statement.

Asked what Statoil know about the circumstances surrounding the accident, Skauby responded:

In the afternoon and evening our main priority has been to take care of those involved and their families, and then we will launch investigations with police and PSA tomorrow to uncover what happened and why. We have no reason to speculate on that now.

According to additional sources the 5 men were atop a silo to do an inspection. The silo is has grating at the top where small amounts of gas are emitted. On this occasion there appeared to be a higher concentration, two of them became dizzy and fainted says Jensen Øygarden

According to Jensen, the two who fainted were taken down by the fire department, while the other three came down unassisted. Jensen says that everyone was conscious when they came down from the silo, but that one of them fainted again and was sent to hospital in ambulance.

May be fatal

The leak was notified at 16:05 Wednesday and stopped at 17:45. Sture terminal where the leak occurred is an important export port for crude oil and operated by Statoil.

Jensen told reporters that the gas hydrogen sulfide is serious and that consumption can be fatal in high concentrations.

We have not done measurements of gas concentrations, but there was talk of large concentration. We smelt a strong odor when we arrived, he says to NRK.

This is an event we take very seriously. It’s always serious when people are exposed to the gas, said Skauby.

Source: VG News