[concept2complex]

Originally Posted by basicallyimhawt ↗

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/E...05331.html?dth

60-70 estimated dead so far and still hundreds hurting. Close to home for me :x

Terrible

[gatagato]

Turned out that West Fertilizer Co.'s Insurance Policy was just $1 Million.

McALLEN, Texas -- The Texas fertilizer plant that exploded last month, killing 14 people, injuring more than 200 others and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to the surrounding area had only $1 million in liability coverage, lawyers said Saturday.

Tyler lawyer Randy C. Roberts said he and other attorneys who have filed lawsuits against West Fertilizer's owners were told Thursday that the plant carried only $1 million in liability insurance. Brook Laskey, an attorney hired by the plant's insurer to represent West Fertilizer Co., confirmed the amount Saturday in an email to The Associated Press, after the Dallas Morning News first reported it.

"The bottom line is, this lack of insurance coverage is just consistent with the overall lack of responsibility we've seen from the fertilizer plant, starting from the fact that from day one they have yet to acknowledge responsibility," Roberts said.

Roberts said he expects the plant's owner to ask a judge to divide the $1 million in insurance money among the plaintiffs, several of whom he represents, and then file for bankruptcy.

He said he wasn't surprised that the plant was carrying such a small policy.

"It's rare for Texas to require insurance for any kind of hazardous activity," he said. "We have very little oversight of hazardous activities and even less regulation."

On April 17, a fire at the West Fertilizer Co. in West, a town 70 miles south of Dallas, was quickly followed by an earth-shaking explosion that left a 90-foot wide crater and damaged homes, schools and nursing home within a 37-block blast zone. Among those killed were 10 emergency responders.

State and federal investigators haven't determined what caused the blast.

The plant had reported just months before the blast that it had the capacity to store 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, but it was unknown how much was there at the time of the explosion.

Roberts said that even without a conclusive cause, negligence lawsuits can proceed.

"The law allows courts to presume negligence when something happens that would not ordinarily occur but for negligence," Roberts said. "A fire might be an unavoidable accident, but an explosion of this magnitude resulting from a fire is not an unavoidable accident."

Lawyers will look for any other assets the company might have and search for other responsible parties, he said.

[Nick_ufc]

typical Texan silly cunts

[freeflykat]

<script type='text/javascript' src='http://KDFW.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=718402;hostDomain=www.myfoxdfw.com; playerWidth=630;playerHeight=355;isShowIcon=true;c lipId=10167372;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;a dvertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;island ingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDED script;controlsType=overlay'></script><a href="http://www.myfoxdfw.com" title=" Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com"> Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com</a>

[freeflykat]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/255323...lipId=10167372

[freeflykat]

The report came out today with lots of pics...I will try and find them this weekend and post them. I tried to embed the video above but yeah...there is a link there too.

[gosportjamie]

Originally Posted by Wakabush ↗

That blast must have been loud as ****...Im surprise they didnt die just from being so close to the blast

They were inside a vehicle which helped shield them from the shock wave. I'm not sure they were close enough to the explosion for the shock wave to be fatal for them if they had been outside of the vehicle, but it would certainly have knocked them down and possibly caused injuries. Had they been thrown against something, like the vehicle, fatal injuries could have been caused, which is what causes a lot of deaths attributed by the media to explosions. More often than not it is traumatic injuries caused by being thrown against solid objects that are the cause of death rather than the impact of the shock wave itself...

[gosportjamie]

That looked an awful lot like a Blevy (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) but I can't think of anything that might be used in making fertilizer that would be likely to cause that kind of detonation. Maybe the plant had equipment powered by liquid gas and it was the tank that detonated, but if so I would have thought that the fire service would know about it and therefore be able to respond in a way that minimized the risk to fire fighters, but the nature of the response and the positioning of vehicles and personnel suggests fire fighters were unaware of the risk. Hopefully the story will come out in the investigation. My deepest condolences go to the families of the fire fighters who lost their lives that day, and to those of all victims...

[boingokky]

I remember feeling the shock-wave all the way out in Whitney when it happened. Terrible tragedy. West is still recovering from this.

[Gingerbox]

This is what I think about, when republicans talk about job killing "regulations".

That and basically all the other bad shit that happens in red states, because republicans don't give a shit about the people who vote for them.