Worker killed in boiler blast

A boiler tender preparing to leave his post as his work shift ended was killed after a high pressure boiler tank exploded yesterday inside a wood processing facility in Valenzuela City.

SPO2 Angeles Miranda identified the victim as Rodrigo Villasis, 31, an employee of the Extensive Wood Corp. along MacArthur Highway in Barangay Dalandanan, Valenzuela.

Superintendent Vladimir Villasenor, Northern Police District Scene of the Crime Operations (NPD-SOCO) chief, said Villasis died instantanly from the blast.

He said the explosion caused skull fractures leading to severe intracranial hemorrhage.

The SOCO chief said 95 percent of Villasis’ body also sustained second-degree burns, apparently caused by steam.

Boiling water could have resulted in blisters, but Villasenor said he found none of these on the victim’s body. He said that the burns were not enough to have caused his death. Also, his kidneys and spleen were ruptured due to the impact of the blast, he said.

Initial investigation showed Villasis was doing last minute checks after his graveyard shift ended at around 5:45 a.m. when the boiler, filled with steam and boiling water used in kiln driers to remove moisture from cut lumber, suddenly exploded.

"Paalis na sana. Naghuhugas lang nang biglang sumabog," co-workers told SOCO team leader Senior Inspector Leonardo Arce, who processed the scene. Arce said many more could have been killed or injured if the blast happened later in the day when a lot of workers were present.

He said the huge boiler, located on the second floor of one of the three buildings in the compound, toppled and fell down to the ground from the blast.

The blast also destroyed the concrete buffer walls surrounding the boiler.

The galvanized roofing of the building and that off the adjacent warehouse were sent flying several meters away from the blast area.

Arce said there could have been a lapse in monitoring the gauges on the boiler.

He said workers believe the temperature could have risen while the corresponding volume of water was lower than what was necessary, resulting in the overheating and the increase in pressure inside the tank. – With Pete Laude