Sadness Descends Over Pembrokeshire Following the Chevron Oil Refinery Accident

The County has just been getting over the verdict of the John Cooper trial in Swansea for the murder of 4 people in Pembrokeshire, going back to the 1980's. Then we are told that the Police are investigating other possible victims to see whether there was any link with John Cooper.

Then on Thursday teatime came the news of an explosion at the Chevron oil refinery near Pembroke.

I am a relative newcomer to Pembrokeshire, having lived and worked here now, for almost 10 years. As you become part of a community, you share the good and bad news with those around you. The deaths of 4 local people (who I did not know) and the 5th person who is in Morriston Hospital with severe burns is a great tragedy.

I won't name the individuals or describe where the disaster happened as its been fully reported elsewhere and I am not an expert on the site, and I don't wish to speculate as to how it happened.

I saw the pictures on BBC Wales Today before I set off to Pembroke Dock to do a job on Thursday evening. As I crossed the Cleddau Bridge at 7.15pm, I looked for the signs of smoke, but 55 minutes after the explosion, there was no sign of what had happened. In effect, it looked a beautiful early summer's evening.

It was only when I got home and was watching the TV and scouring the internet, especially Twitter, that the news was starting to seep out. And seep was the word.

I joined the Radio Pembrokeshire Facebook Group and was surprised at some of the comments on there. I can only presume it was the naivety of youth that made some people make some of the comments of secrecy etc... as news was slow in coming out. By mid evening, the news channels were reporting that 2 petrol tankers had collided on site.

I remember responding to one comment that "thankfully the number of deaths was low and could have been worse". I responded on that Facebook page that 2 deaths was still a disaster to the families and I would not make that comment to the face of either of the families involved. I also said that the news will come out once all the procedures had been followed and that it was good that Radio Pembrokeshire were only reporting fact and not gossip and that we on the sidelines did not have an automatic right to be told everything too soon, in case material facts were later proven to be wrong.

Ben Stone from Radio Pembrokeshire did a good job ensuring that ONLY facts were reported and I guess he was frustrated at some of the comments made, so I was quite happy to respond to some of the wild comments that we will be told in due course.

It was sad to go to sleep, knowing that 2 people had died. I woke at 4am and was unable to get back to sleep so I went onto my Blackberry and saw the "confirmed" news on the BBC website that 4 people had died as a result of an explosion at a storage tank and that it was not as a result of 2 tankers colliding on site, though aerial shots the following day showed a burnt out petrol tanker next to the destroyed storage tank. The vehicle looked like a match box toy in comparison to the surroundings.

On Thursday evening, the news channels only seemed to have viewers photos and videos to brodcast and I expected wall to wall coverage on Sky and the BBC, on Friday morning. Instead, we were treated to never ending feed of the preliminary proceedings against General Ratko Mladic, at The Hague. There were occasional reports from the refinery and by then, the news channels had finally got reporters to stand outside the refinery and I remember one report where the picture quality and sound was as if they were reporting from the moon, rather than the 250 miles to London.

National news coverage was rather scant in my opinion. I suppose had it happened close to London, we would have had blanket coverage. With regards to the Mladic trial, this was his first appearance and all I want to hear is the relevant parts as a news article at the end of each day, not non-stop coverage for several hours, whilst the news presenters went off for a hour or two.

In conclusion, there has been an air of sadness over the County and now we know that all the fatalities were local and I can only express my own sadness and that my thoughts go to their families, friends and work colleagues.

Then yesterday, to ADD to the gloom, we learn of the murder of a 66 year old woman from Narberth, in a separate incident.

FINALLY - I hope that the Police and the HSE and other organisation, with the assistance of Chevron, find out how the accident happened and whether any lessons can be learned. As much as we do our utmost to prevent such disasters, we have to accept that accidents will happen. Local councillors and others have commented that Chevron is fully committed to the highest standards of safety and the record is apparently excellent. So we await the results of what is being treated by Dyfed Powys Police as a "tragic industrial accident". My thoughts and sympathy goes out to everyone affected and their families.

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