By Mitchell Willetts
The Herald
Three workers performing repairs died from toxic sewer gas in southeast Texas, officials say.
The workers were at the Westwood Shores sewer plant, near Trinity, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, when they succumbed to hydrogen sulfide gas, Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said in a Facebook post.
A shelter-in-place order was issued for the community but lifted a short time later when authorities confirmed the gas was contained underground, he said.
A dive team with the North Montgomery County Fire Department responded to the scene at about 5 p.m. and helped recover the bodies of the workers from the manhole, fire officials said.
According to the sheriff’s office, the workers were initially above ground, fixing a motor to a lift station at the sewage facility, KTRE reported.
However, sewage was backing up into the area they were working, so one of the men went down a nearby manhole to deal with the issue — but he didn’t come back up, authorities told the outlet.
A worker went to rescue the man but lost consciousness, the outlet reported. The third man attempted to save the other two, officials said, adding that he would have been aware of the danger, as an alarm on his gas meter was indicating the presence of hydrogen sulfide. He also succumbed to the gas, authorities said.
The men, ages 46, 47 and 52, were all from the Houston area, KYTX reported.
Two of them worked for H2O Innovation, according to the outlet.
H2O Innovation is a Canada-based company that offers wastewater utility maintenance and management services.
The third man worked for a company called Hydroclear, KYTX reported.
“This is a profoundly difficult day for our team,” H2O Innovation CEO Frédéric Dugré said in a statement. “We are still working to determine what led up to the deaths, working closely with the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office and other local officials. Safety and training are incredibly important to us,” he said.
“Right now, we are focused on doing all we can to support the families of those employees and the rest of our team,” he said. “Out of respect for them and the continuing investigation, we will release more information when it is available and as permitted by the families and law enforcement.”
There are conflicting reports regarding the cause and source of the gas, and McClatchy News has reached out to officials for clarification.
Trinity is a roughly 90-mile drive north from Houston.
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