Australian Town torn apart by mystery blast
Verity Edwards and Richard Sproull
Australian
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A few hours after Brant Webb and Todd Russell emerged from the Beaconsfield mine shaft, five workers clocked on for Tuesday's shift at Quin Investments' explosives factory, near the South Australian township of Gladstone.
As with the two Tasmanian goldminers, the five men - Damian Harris, Matthew Keeley, Darren Millington, Cameron Edson and Damian John - were important cogs in the nation's mining industry.
Their work at Quin, 200km north of Adelaide, is fuelling a mining boom that enabled Treasurer Peter Costello to deliver billions of dollars into taxpayers' pockets, build new roads and increase benefits for families. High demand from mining companies would often result in Quin's plant running at full throttle night and day.
Just after midday on Tuesday, the explosive produced by the three men detonated. Locals recall a smaller explosion followed by a mammoth blast that annihilated the besser block building that housed the hopper that mixes and packages the sticks of watergel.
Ground zero is the size of a football field and windows were shattered in buildings up to 500m from the epicentre. Pieces of corrugated iron littered trees in the nearby Beetaloo Forest. Debris from the explosion also sparked a blaze in scrub more than 1.5km away. The explosion was felt up to 45km from the 320ha Quin precinct.
Edson and John had their backs to the blast. Their clothes were blown off. Edson was dragged from the site by fellow worker Danny Palmer. Edson had been working outside the factory near machinery and was found pinned under a front-end loader that had be thrown by the force of the explosion. He was bleeding and covered in burns. John was also seriously injured.
Two bodies have been recovered but neither has been positively identified. Police and emergency services workers have yet to find the third body and hold out little hope it will be located.
Three days on from the Gladstone explosion, police and WorkSafe officers remain unclear as to what triggered the deadly blast.
Explosives expert Kevin Drummond has visited Quin several times to deposit or pick up explosives and was surprised to hear of the industrial accident.
Drummond, who has years of experience in the industry through his company Demex Explosive Demolitions, says the size of the explosion correlates with a gas-producing explosive such as ANFO.
The key with ANFO is to ensure it remains inert. But if you create the wrong mix ratio it could have fatal consequences.
Speculation has been rife in the Gladstone community that there was a power surge up to 10 minutes before the explosion or a smaller explosion before the big bang. But ETSA Utilities denies this.
May 12, 2006
Verity Edwards and Richard Sproull
Australian
_______
A few hours after Brant Webb and Todd Russell emerged from the Beaconsfield mine shaft, five workers clocked on for Tuesday's shift at Quin Investments' explosives factory, near the South Australian township of Gladstone.
As with the two Tasmanian goldminers, the five men - Damian Harris, Matthew Keeley, Darren Millington, Cameron Edson and Damian John - were important cogs in the nation's mining industry.
Their work at Quin, 200km north of Adelaide, is fuelling a mining boom that enabled Treasurer Peter Costello to deliver billions of dollars into taxpayers' pockets, build new roads and increase benefits for families. High demand from mining companies would often result in Quin's plant running at full throttle night and day.
Just after midday on Tuesday, the explosive produced by the three men detonated. Locals recall a smaller explosion followed by a mammoth blast that annihilated the besser block building that housed the hopper that mixes and packages the sticks of watergel.
Ground zero is the size of a football field and windows were shattered in buildings up to 500m from the epicentre. Pieces of corrugated iron littered trees in the nearby Beetaloo Forest. Debris from the explosion also sparked a blaze in scrub more than 1.5km away. The explosion was felt up to 45km from the 320ha Quin precinct.
Edson and John had their backs to the blast. Their clothes were blown off. Edson was dragged from the site by fellow worker Danny Palmer. Edson had been working outside the factory near machinery and was found pinned under a front-end loader that had be thrown by the force of the explosion. He was bleeding and covered in burns. John was also seriously injured.
Two bodies have been recovered but neither has been positively identified. Police and emergency services workers have yet to find the third body and hold out little hope it will be located.
Three days on from the Gladstone explosion, police and WorkSafe officers remain unclear as to what triggered the deadly blast.
Explosives expert Kevin Drummond has visited Quin several times to deposit or pick up explosives and was surprised to hear of the industrial accident.
Drummond, who has years of experience in the industry through his company Demex Explosive Demolitions, says the size of the explosion correlates with a gas-producing explosive such as ANFO.
The key with ANFO is to ensure it remains inert. But if you create the wrong mix ratio it could have fatal consequences.
Speculation has been rife in the Gladstone community that there was a power surge up to 10 minutes before the explosion or a smaller explosion before the big bang. But ETSA Utilities denies this.
May 12, 2006
