May 16, 2001 – Two workers at the Hovensa refinery on St. Croix were injured -– one seriously -– in an explosion and fire Tuesday.
An unidentified operations worker suffered third-degree burns over 35 percent of his body in the incident, according to Dr. Cora Christian, Hovensa’s medical director. The injured worker was transferred to the Juan F. Luis Hospital immediately after the blast and fire and was to be airlifted to the burn center at the University of Texas, Galveston.
The second injured worker suffered heat exhaustion during the time following the blaze, which erupted at about 3 p.m. Tuesday and burned for about 20 minutes before being extinguished by the Hovensa fire brigade.
Following the fire Tuesday, Hovensa officials said they couldn’t immediately gauge the extent of damages to the processing unit where the explosion occurred. It was also unclear whether production at the refinery, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, would be affected.
Hovensa is equally owned through a joint venture by Amerada Hess Corp. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state-owned oil company in Venezuela.
