Four persons hospitalised after explosion at Beryllium facility

 

Four employees of Beryllium remain in hospital following an explosion and fire at the company's headquarters in Kingston on Wednesday morning. 

 

The explosion triggered a fire that caused significant damage to several courier trucks parked at the facility. 

 

The security and courier company, which supplies money to financial institutions, says its wider operations were not affected by the incident, which occurred at one of its facilities on South Camp Road.

 

The explosion and fire occurred between 8:30 and 9:15 a.m., while several workmen were reportedly carrying out body repairs on one of the company's courier trucks. 

 

Four of the workers sustained serious burns. They were rushed to Kingston Public Hospital for treatment. Arrangements were later made to transfer them to the University Hospital of the West Indies. 

 

Radio Jamaica News spoke with head of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, Commissioner Stewart Beckford, who said several fire units responded to the blaze. 

 

"Our investigations revealed that approximately five vehicles were damaged in the explosion... three severe damage, one partially and one suffered some heat damage. Our investigations continue into the incident, but from observation and information gathered from persons on the ground, it would appear that there was welding activities taking place on one of those units when the explosion occurred. So we're working with the team from Beryllium to determine the cause of that explosion," he disclosed.

 

Firefighters from the York Park and Rollington Town fire stations responded to the scene and extinguished the fire. 

 

Damage from the fire is estimated at more than $15 million. 

 

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Beryllium said the explosion and fire was contained to its garage property. 

 

The company argued that its operations were not affected, and there was no fire within the Beryllium building or its operational areas. 

 

Beryllium said business continuity measures remained fully intact, and all services continued to operate normally. 

 

No foul play or criminal intent is suspected at this time.