Terrace Bay Pulp Tragedy Update – OPP Release Name of Explosion Victim
TERRACE BAY, ON – Scheiber OPP have identify the man killed in Terrace Bay Pulp Inc.’s tragic explosion on Monday (October 31) as Terrance Berthelot. Officials from the detachment say 28 year old Terrance Berthelot, died from his injuries following the explosion at the mill. Two other men, aged 52- and 53-years-old, both from Thunder Bay, were transported to the McCausland Hospital. Both were treated for non-life threatening injuries, and have since been released from the hospital.
Mayor Michael King said the community is in mourning. King has noted that though major accidents at the mill have been rare over the years but that it is a large complex with complicated machinery and so can be a hazardous place to work.
Terrace Bay resident Mike Deslauriers who was at the mill said he smelled something like burning plastic and then he heard an explosion. The man said the explosion blew the roof off a brownstock tank at the back of the mill. (Brownstock is a part of the wood pulp digesting process.) The accident took place in what’s known as “the old mill” or the No. 1 mill.
The OPP North West Region Crime Unit, the Ministry of Labour and the Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office continue to investigate the circumstances of the explosion.
RELATED LINKS
- Community in mourning after fatal accident – Witness says Terrace Bay Pulp building seemed to blow in on itself (CBC)
- Mill blast claims life of young father (The Chronicle Journal)
