One oil field worker died of a head injury and a second was injured in an accident Wednesday at a plant north of Bakersfield, Calif., according to BakersfieldNow.com.
The victim was identified as Barry Snelson, 54, of Bakersfield. The fatal accident took place shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Live Oak Cogen plant, BakersfieldNow.com reported. Investigators from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration were on the scene.
Snelson and another worker were in a 15-foot-tall tank, which they were reportedly testing for leaks. But authorities weren’t quite sure what happened to ultimately kill one worker and injure another, according to BakersfieldNow.com.
The workers were adding air pressure to the tank, which had a false bottom, to test it. Authorities suspect that the pressure may have made the false bottom suddenly move, catching the workers off-guard. Witnesses heard what they said sounded like an explosion, BakersfieldNow.com.
Firefighters had to rescue the two workers by sending someone down into the tank by rope. That firefighter had a harness to bring up the two injured workers.
When Snelson was taken out of the tank he had no signs of life, no pulse and no breathing, BakersfieldNow.com reported. The injured worker who survived suffered a fractured ankle.