The Ministry of Labour’s Occupational Safety and Health Department yesterday morning begun investigations into an accident that occurred at Hack Rice Mill, Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, on Thursday afternoon that injured three employees.
The Ministry said in a statement that according to reports, the employees were injured when a boiler exploded while they were on duty.
Statements are being taken, and interviews conducted, to determine the cause of the explosion.
Information will be released to the public as it is made available, the ministry said.
According to the police, the incident occurred at around 3.30 pm on Thursday and seriously injured Sukra Harrygobin, 25, of Bath Settlement, who had his ankle amputated. Also injured were Farad Uddin, 19, an operator of Blairmont, West Bank Berbice and Anthony Ramlochan called Bobby, age 20 years, an operator of Lot 54 Bush Lot Village.
The police say that the mill is operated by Fiaz Abdool Hack, 47, a businessman residing at Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara.
Harrygobin was operating a rice boiler in the company of Uddin and Ramlochan called Bobby , when he heard a loud explosion. He said he started to feel pain about his left foot and about his body which caused him to raise an alarm, after which several workers ran to his rescue and took him to the Fort Wellington hospital along with Uddin and Ramlochan where they were seen and examined by Dr Eskerine where it was discovered that Harrygobin’s left foot was partially severed.
Ramlochan suffered burns to more than 52% of his body. Uddin suffered lacerations to his right leg.
While they were receiving treatment, they all took self-discharge to seek medical attention privately at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital.
