Three Die At Queens Sewage Plant From Toxic Fumes
NY Daily News 6/29/09
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Three workers, including a
Brooklyn father and his son, died Monday after apparently being
overcome by poisonous gas while trying to unclog an 18-foot-deep
cesspool at a Queens sewage plant, officials said.
Firefighters raced to Royal Waste Services Inc. on Douglas Ave.
in Jamaica at 2:32 p.m., but the men were dead at the scene.
"They went in and got trapped in the sewer," said Abe Rosenthal,
a friend of the victims. "This is unbelievable."
The men worked for the S. Dahan Sewer Specialists, which was
hired by Royal Waste to unclog a drain at the bottom of the
18-foot-deep by 3-foot-wide drywell.
Police said one of the owners of the company, Shlomo Dahan, and
his son, Harel, perished in the accident.
Harel Dahan, 23, lost his footing and fell into the cesspool
while trying to unstop the drain with a long pipe plunger, cops
said. The drain was apparently clogged by debris from recent
rainstorms.
Shlomo Dahan, 49, climbed down the hole to rescue his son, but
was overcome by toxic fumes, police said. When he failed to
emerge or respond to cries of co-workers, Royal Waste employee
Rene Francisco Rivas, 52, climbed down the hole and was
overcome, too, cops said.
"It appears it was the high levels of hydrogen sulfide that
overcame the victims," said FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief John
Sudnik.
About 4 feet of putrid water had pooled at the bottom of the
drywell, where fire officials measured poisonous levels of
hydrogen sulfide gas - which has a distinctive "rotten egg"
smell.
Fire officials said a 10-minute exposure to 50 to 100 parts per
million of hydrogen sulfide is lethal. Firefighters found 200
parts per million of hydrogen sulfide in the hole.
Sudnik said firefighters arrived seven minutes after getting the
call and had recovered all the bodies by 3:05 p.m.
A firefighter wearing a hazardous material suit retrieved the
bodies from the hole.
"They found all three faced down [in the water]," Sudnik said.
"That kind of atmosphere is very toxic."
Relatives of the men rushed to the scene, tearful and desperate
for information. Officials ushered them into a trailer to break
the news.
One man, identified as another of Shlomo Dahan's sons, began
wailing when told of the deaths.
"They told me he was in an accident," Rivas' heartbroken son,
Oscar, 27, told the Daily News. "They said he saw two men fall
into the hole and he jumped to help them. He was always like
that, always helping people."
Neighbors sat shiva last night with Shlomo Dahan's widow, Sarah,
and his three surviving sons.
"The mother, she's shocked, she can't react," said neighbor
Frieda Razabi, 40.
Razabi described Shlomo Dahan as a hardworking, religious man
and was not surprised to hear that his last act was attempting
to save his son. "He was such a father, overprotective," Razabi
said.
A man who answered the phone at Royal Waste said he had no
comment and hung up.
Records describe the plant, formerly known as the Regal
Recycling Co. and run by M&P Reali Enterprises, as a solid waste
transfer station capable of processing 600 tons of putrescible
waste a day.
In 2005, a immigrant from El Salvador was crushed to death at
the plant when a Caterpillar tractor backed over him.
The death of 46-year-old Effraine Calderone led the federal
Occupational Safety and Health Administration to cite the
company for a violation. OSHA found the driver was operating the
tractor in a hazardous way and that the tractor's cracked
windows distorting the operator's vision.
related...
Three Workers Die In Queens Sewage Hole NY1 News 6/29/09
Photos: Workers Trapped In Manhole Die Newsday 6/30/09
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