During the early morning hours of Wednesday, August 18, 2021, another fire disaster engulfed Sethi Brothers’ steel factory in the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) community, along the Japan Freeway, Gardnersville, leaving at least seven (7) persons severely injured: four Liberians and three Indians.
According to information, a wire that fastens the covering of the huge melting pot, containing melted iron and other toxic substances at a very high temperature, cut, thereby allowing the pot’s covering to be removed and the hot mixtures in the pot to pour on the seven men.
It was gathered that the four Liberians, who got severely burned, are usually among many other jobless young Liberians who gather daily at the premise’s gate looking for day-boy job.
Sources close to Sethi Brothers, owners of the steel factory, disclosed that the Liberian workers who got injured are Nathaniel Faso, Amos Semia, Theo Tiaklay, and Sumo Kesselly, and the Indians are Achelal Sarooj, Hosla Parsad and Harishshad Sahni.
Some aggrieved employees of the steel factory have however blamed the company’s CEO, Paul Raspal, commonly known as “Sethi”, for the negligence.
The spokesman for the aggrieved workers, who begged for anonymity, stated that the workers had discussed with Sethi few years to provide them safety equipment, including fire protection gears, but up to now Sethi is yet to provide them the items.
“The factory can be so hot that some people can even get burned without going very close to the melting pot. This happens to both Liberians and Indians. We’ve been complaining but no action has been taken,” the aggrieved employee stated.
Another aggrieved employee explained that the incident was very horrible, as he watched the hot chemical melting the skins of his colleagues.
According to him, from the look of things, if his colleagues are not flown out of Liberia very quickly for advanced medical treatment, they may not survive from their injuries.