3 dead, 10 injured in 3 separate oilfield incidents in Southeaster New Mexico
Source: Current-Argus
3 dead, 10 injured in 3 separate oilfield incidents in Southeaster New Mexico
By Zack Ponce
zponce@currentargus.com @zackponce12 on Twitter
posted: 05/02/2014 06:22:35 PM MDT
CARLSBAD >> Three people died and 10 were injured in three separate oilfield incidents this week.
Raul Olague Ortiz, 45, of Odessa, Texas, was killed on Thursday afternoon in Loco Hills, east of Artesia, as he was working on a pulling unit. A spokesman with the Eddy County Sheriff's Department said a metal deck held up by a cable snapped in two and landed on the victim. Ortiz was a floor hand employed by Production Services of Odessa and his body is being sent to the Office of the Medical Investigators in Albuquerque to determine the exact nature of incident. Deputies and emergency personnel responded to the scene at 3:40 p.m.
The death came on the heels of an explosion at an oil production site in Orla, Texas, approximately 50 miles from Carlsbad, that killed two workers and injured nine others shortly after 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
In a separate incident just hours later on Wednesday morning, a man identified by the sheriff's office as Sylvester Marquez, 61, of Lovington, suffered a laceration to his head when the floor deck of a pulling unit he was working on at the Mobley Ranch near Carlsbad collapsed, causing him to fall and hit his head. Marquez, an employee of TWS Incorporated, was airlifted to Carlsbad Medical Center and his condition was unknown as of Friday evening.
Wally Drangmeister, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said Friday the recent accidents were alarming.
Read more: http://www.currentargus.com/carlsbad-news/ci_25687455/3-dead-10-injured-3-separate-oilfield-incidents
DesertDiamond
(1,616 posts)NMDemDist2
(49,313 posts)human errors and under maintained equipment will lead to accidents and accidents in the oil fields lead to death all too often