Investigation on explosion that triggered factory fire begins
New Straits Times, 26 March 2013
By ATIQA HAZELLAH AND RAHMAT KHAIRULRIJAL
BUKIT MERTAJAM: The state Fire and Rescue Department has began its investigation on the explosion which triggered a fire which killed a technician and injuring four others at an oleochemical factory in Prai Industrial Estate yesterday.
Its Fire Investigation assistant director Mohamadul Ehsan Mohd Zain said the investigation was expected to be completed by Thursday.
"We have recorded the statement from several eyewitness and revisited the scene today," he told News Straits Times when contacted.
Meanwhile, the Department Occupational Safety & Health (DOSH) said they had also started their investigation into the incident. "The investigation is still at a preliminary stage.""We have sent out our officers to the scene and have identified several key eyewitness," state DOSH director Mohd Anuar Embi said.
He stressed that they viewed that case seriously because the incident involved a casualty and serious injuries among the workers.
"At the moment, the factory has ceased its operations pending further investigation," he told The New Straits Times.
The 11.40am fire on Monday broke out shortly after a blast in a storeroom on the third floor of the four-storey factory, which produced vegetable-based stearates used in plastics, rubber, pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics industries.
Roslan body was found in the store's control room while his four colleagues who suffered serious burn injuries were rushed to the Seberang Jaya Hospital.
Those injured were Baharin Arsad, 49; Jamalludin Ismail, 39; K. Ramis, 41; and Mustak Kamal, 35, a Bangladeshi.
