by DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Jan 23: The explosion at a factory in the Samalaju Industrial Park last night is believed to have been caused by a hydrogen gas leak, reports say.
According to a news report by New Sarawak Tribune today, no injuries or casualties were reported in the incident.
It stated that the Samalaju Fire and Rescue Station Chief Irwin Abidin said his team was deployed to the scene following an emergency call at 11pm.
“The explosion is believed to have occurred due to a hydrogen gas leak from a flange gasket, which accumulated in the shelter at PS1 A1 Section.
“The incident area covered 35 square metres, with the blast radius causing damage to four square metres.
“However, there were no explosions involving pipes or vessels, and the damage was confined to the shelter panel,” he was quoted as saying in a statement.
The report stated that the plant operator managed to isolate and halt operations through Centre Control Room One (CCR1) to control the situation and mitigate further risks.
According to Irwin, firefighting operations were not necessary as his team only monitored and gathered information at the scene.
The exact cause of the explosion is still under investigation by the Fire and Rescue Department’s (Bomba) Fire Investigation Division.
Meanwhile, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Sarawak said it is looking into this incident.
On its Facebook post, the department said it has launched an investigation into the accident to find out the exact cause of the explosion.
“Legal action will be taken against the responsible parties if there are violations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514).
“DOSH Sarawak takes every accident seriously and all employers are urged to enhance the level of safety and health in the workplace,” it said. – DayakDaily
