New York City June 30 2009
newsday.com
Three workers - including a father and son - were killed Monday afternoon when they were overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes while trying to escape a deep, water-filled hole at a Queens waste transfer plant, authorities said.
The final moments of the victims' lives were spent thrashing around an 18-foot-deep hole filled with three feet of water and deadly levels of hydrogen sulfide, a by-product of decomposed organic material that collects in the well as runoff water gathers, authorities said.
"At 100 parts per million it is considered imminently dangerous to life and health," said John Sudnik, an FDNY deputy assistant chief. "We had 200 parts per million in the hole.
"I don't know if they knew the exact dangers of the conditions in the hole," he said
The 2:30 p.m. accident happened at Regal Recycling Co., a private waste transfer plant on Douglas Avenue, in Jamaica.
Three workers from S. Dahan Sewer Specialists, a South Ozone Park firm, were at the scene, using a vacuum truck to suck water from the hole, a dry well used to collect construction debris water runoff.
The son, Harel Dahan, 23, of Brooklyn, was using a long device to break loose the material gathered in the well and somehow fell in, police said.
His dad, Shlomo Dahan, 49, also of Brooklyn, used a rope and ladder to climb down into the well but was overcome by fumes, police said.
When a Regal maintenance worker, Rene Francisco Rivas, 52, of Queens, rushed down the hole to help, he, too, suffered the same fate trying to rescue the fallen duo.
"I don't know that he knows there so was so much gas down there," Regal worker Angel Acosta said of Rivas, a Salvadoran immigrant.
The third Dahan company worker, who co-founded the company with Shlomo Dahan, was not hurt.
"Help! Help!" Alan Persaud, who works across the street at a steel distribution company, remembers hearing workers yelling. "Nobody could do anything to help them."
Firefighters responding to the scene found the three victims face down in the water.
One firefighter wearing a breathing apparatus pulled the bodies from the well by attaching them to a harness.
Regal had no immediate comment.
Police, meanwhile, are reviewing surveillance cameras to see if any of the accident was captured on video.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are also investigating the accident.
According to OSHA records, there were violations found during a recent inspection at the plant, including improper floor and wall openings and respiratory protection.
Royal Waste was ordered at the time to pay thousands of dollars in fines.
The DEC Web site says the plant is authorized to handle putrescible waste, which is solid waste that contains organic matter capable of being decomposed by microorganisms, plus construction and demolition debris.
Shortly after the accident, two of Dahan's other sons showed up at the scene, overcome by grief. A family friend, Abe Rosenthal, who drove the Dahans' rabbi, from Tov Synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills, said of Shlomo: "He's the sweetest guy. . . . I would know. A great friend, a great partner, Jewish guy, religious guy.
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newsday.com
Three workers - including a father and son - were killed Monday afternoon when they were overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes while trying to escape a deep, water-filled hole at a Queens waste transfer plant, authorities said.
The final moments of the victims' lives were spent thrashing around an 18-foot-deep hole filled with three feet of water and deadly levels of hydrogen sulfide, a by-product of decomposed organic material that collects in the well as runoff water gathers, authorities said.
"At 100 parts per million it is considered imminently dangerous to life and health," said John Sudnik, an FDNY deputy assistant chief. "We had 200 parts per million in the hole.
"I don't know if they knew the exact dangers of the conditions in the hole," he said
The 2:30 p.m. accident happened at Regal Recycling Co., a private waste transfer plant on Douglas Avenue, in Jamaica.
Three workers from S. Dahan Sewer Specialists, a South Ozone Park firm, were at the scene, using a vacuum truck to suck water from the hole, a dry well used to collect construction debris water runoff.
The son, Harel Dahan, 23, of Brooklyn, was using a long device to break loose the material gathered in the well and somehow fell in, police said.
His dad, Shlomo Dahan, 49, also of Brooklyn, used a rope and ladder to climb down into the well but was overcome by fumes, police said.
When a Regal maintenance worker, Rene Francisco Rivas, 52, of Queens, rushed down the hole to help, he, too, suffered the same fate trying to rescue the fallen duo.
"I don't know that he knows there so was so much gas down there," Regal worker Angel Acosta said of Rivas, a Salvadoran immigrant.
The third Dahan company worker, who co-founded the company with Shlomo Dahan, was not hurt.
"Help! Help!" Alan Persaud, who works across the street at a steel distribution company, remembers hearing workers yelling. "Nobody could do anything to help them."
Firefighters responding to the scene found the three victims face down in the water.
One firefighter wearing a breathing apparatus pulled the bodies from the well by attaching them to a harness.
Regal had no immediate comment.
Police, meanwhile, are reviewing surveillance cameras to see if any of the accident was captured on video.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are also investigating the accident.
According to OSHA records, there were violations found during a recent inspection at the plant, including improper floor and wall openings and respiratory protection.
Royal Waste was ordered at the time to pay thousands of dollars in fines.
The DEC Web site says the plant is authorized to handle putrescible waste, which is solid waste that contains organic matter capable of being decomposed by microorganisms, plus construction and demolition debris.
Shortly after the accident, two of Dahan's other sons showed up at the scene, overcome by grief. A family friend, Abe Rosenthal, who drove the Dahans' rabbi, from Tov Synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills, said of Shlomo: "He's the sweetest guy. . . . I would know. A great friend, a great partner, Jewish guy, religious guy.
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