Shell later agrees to pay OSHA a $3 million dollar fine for federal safety violations and also settles wrongful death lawsuits with the families of the dead workers, making payments in the range of $2.1 to $2.4 million per family.
By John Donovan
On 27 May 1994, almost exactly 20 years ago, a fire at the Shell Chemical plant in Belpre, Ohio triggered an explosion that cost the lives of four workers and polluted the Ohio River with toxic chemicals.
Extract from a pdf document citing multiple sources
…a fire at Shell Chemical’s Belpre, Ohio plant spreads to a nearby chemical storage tank area, touching off an explosion and ferocious chemical fire, causing four of the big tanks to burn and lose millions of gallons of chemicals. Four workers are killed in the incident and 1,700 people evacuated. The fire burns for about nine hours, and chemical leakage from the site pollutes the Ohio River with a 22-mile plume of ethylene dibromide, killing fish and forcing downstream municipalities to seek alternative water supplies. Shell later agrees to pay OSHA a $3 million dollar fine for federal safety violations and also settles wrongful death lawsuits with the families of the dead workers, making payments in the range of $2.1 to $2.4 million per family.
Related extract from an article by Jess Mancini published 26 May 2014 by The Marietta Time under the headline: The Shell disaster: 20 years ago
A simple remembrance will mark the 20 years since a fire and explosion at the former Shell Plant in Belpre where the thoughts are to respectfully remember the three workers who lost their lives and their families, the company said.
