A malfunctioning propane truck, owned by Antilles Gas Corporation, was finally removed from Christiansted on Wednesday evening after leaking flammable fuel for almost three days.
In a press release Wednesday afternoon, St. Croix Fire Chief Angel Torres said several attempts to transfer the remaining fuel to another truck Tuesday failed, so the Fire Service decided the safest course of action was to allow the truck to drain on its own.
“The truck will not be deemed safe for movement from the area until the entire contents of the tank have been expelled,” he said.
In the press release, Torres did not speculate when that might occur, but a message posted on V.I. Alert at 11:09 p.m. Wednesday said the truck had been safely drained and returned to its owner earlier in the evening.
“We have given an all clear for police to lift the safety zone it had created a distance away from the truck,” Torres is quoted as saying in the alert. “This also means that the two affected hotels and surrounding businesses can resume their normal operations.”
The truck began leaking liquefied propane during a routine delivery Monday morning in the parking lot between the Holger Danske and Caravelle hotels, according to the press release.
Fire Services was notified Monday evening and proceeded to evacuate the adjacent hotels and barricade King Street. The barricades were moved to Strand Street Tuesday, allowing life to return to normal for much of the town.
Businesses on Strand Street between Strand Lane and King’s Cross Street remained shut Wednesday, however, leading to flared tempers amongst local merchants.
Several business owners have complained about not being able to get reliable information about what is transpiring.
Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Ashley McKinnon, owner of Dashi, said she had a wine club meeting scheduled for her restaurant that evening, but couldn’t find out if she would be allowed to open for dinner.
“So here I am. I have no information, I’ve got 40 people calling me to find out if they can come to my restaurant tonight, and I’m losing money,” she said.
Sid Kalmans, owner of the Caravelle Hotel, said he was also having to turn away customers Wednesday afternoon.
“We don’t have an all clear, and it’s so late in the day that most likely we will not take any guests,” he said. “Most of the guests that were arriving today would already be on island and we can’t ask them to wait around and hope that we’re open.”
The extent of Antilles Gas’ liability for the incident and what fines, if any, they could face is still unclear, though Jean Greaux, director of communications for the governor’s office, said discussions on the matter will take place.
“Those are questions we’re going to have to address once this clean up is over,” he said.
Greaux added that the incident could lead to a broader conversation about what the responsibilities of any company transporting flammable materials should be in the case of an emergency.
He said that what is clear, however, is that Antilles Gas waited too long to notify authorities after the leak began.
“It’s not acceptable to the government to wait 12 hours. I speak for Fire [Services], I speak for VITEMA, I speak for the administration on that. It’s a deep concern that we have,” he said.
Messages left at Antilles Gas for comment on the leak and its response have not been returned.
