El Pecos blast decision in October

The scene at the El Pecos restaurant, Maraval branch after the explosion in 2015.
The scene at the El Pecos restaurant, Maraval branch after the explosion in 2015.

A HIGH COURT judge will give her decision in October on property damage claim by the owner of Royal Palm Plaza, Maraval, for $2.1 million against North Plant LPG Co-operative Society Ltd, which delivered gas to the El Pecos Grill restaurant in February 2015. At the end of the trial on Wednesday, at which North Plant LPG’s general manager testified, among other witnesses, Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams said she will give her decision on October 22.

Directions were given for the filing of witness statements by September and there will be a short hearing for oral submissions in early October.

The owner of the Royal Palm Plaza property is represented by attorneys Rajiv Persad, Lee Merry, Michael Xavier and Lionel Luckhoo.

North Plant is represented by Avory Sinanan, SC, and Kelvin Ramkissoon.

Continental Corporation, the owner of Royal Palm Plaza, has sued North Plant LPG for loss, damage and expenses caused by negligence of the gas supplier’s employees in delivering liquid gas to El Pecos on February 5, 2015. In its claim for compensation, Continental said the negligence of North Plant LPG’s employees resulted in several explosions, fire damage and extensive structural damage, public liability and loss to the property as well as loss of income, injury to people, death, and vehicles parked on the compound.

In total, a dozen people were seriously injured in the explosion, and four months later, the restaurant’s accountant John Soo Ping Chow died at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. A fire investigation report, which was referred to at the trial during the testimony of North Plant’s managing director Kerry Maharaj, suggested there was a gas leak in the delivery line of the gas truck.

The report also stated: “The most probable cause of the fire was as a result of ignition to a mixture of LPG and air, within the rear passageway near the El Pecos LPG cylinders,” while the conclusion of an examination of the gas hose at the Forensic Science Centre said the nozzle did not fit the hose.

Maharaj said as far as he knew, the company took the appropriate precautions in the delivery of the gas, and denied that the company failed in its duty to do so.

Also testifying was Neville Rampersad, the driver of the LPG truck, who accompanied his co-worker Gregory Maicoo that day, and the marketing manager of Burger King Restaurant, Michelle Borrell, who was at the Royal Palm outlet of the fast-food chain when the explosion happened.

Rampersad said he noticed a hole in the hose line when he was reeling it in after the explosion, but denied that the pump on the truck was turned on before.

Borrell, who came with her newborn baby, who stayed in an infant carrier on her lap while she gave evidence, said she was at the branch when she saw the gas hose “dancing” outside and a white cloud coming into the restaurant. She said two other employees appeared to be in shock and she told them they would have to break the window, but before she could do that, there was a “boom.”

“In my mind everything happened in an instant,” she said, adding that before the explosion she smelled a strong smell of gas and a plumber working in the building came in and warned them: “The man lose control of the (gas) hose outside.”

Continental has accused North Plant of delivering liquid gas without due care and attention; neglecting to keep proper control of the hose and equipment during the delivery to El Pecos; failing to have regard for the other occupants of the property by giving any proper warning that gas was being supplied; endangering lives; failing to notice the damage to the hose line; and failing to prevent the hose from escaping its handler’s grip.

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"El Pecos blast decision in October"

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