RIYADH: A Sri Lankan national, Lionel, one of four expatriates seriously injured last week in an accidental blast while fixing a gas leak at a can manufacturing plant in Dammam, died on Monday. Lionel, 44, is survived by his wife and 13-year-old daughter. The second injured worker, Sarath Anil, 48, has been undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit for the 22 percent burns he suffered from the blast. The third worker, Anil, 40, has 10 percent burns. “Both injured Sri Lankans are in critical condition,” said a source at the hospital. A fourth worker, Kareem, also in his 40s, from Hyderabad, the capital city of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has recovered and was transferred to the general ward of Al-Mana Hospital. Anura Muthumala, labor counselor at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh, expressed regret at Lionel's death, but said he is “satisfied” with the treatment the company is providing to the other injured Sri Lankans. He said the mission deals with about five to six cases, mostly traffic accidents, every month. He said the embassy will offer all possible support to those injured. The workers were injured last Wednesday while fixing a gas leak at a plant of the United Arab Can Manufacturing Company. Ahmed A. Al-Ghelaigah, the company's information technology and human resources manager and legal counsel, said 45 percent of Lionel's body was burned by the blast. “He [Lionel] succumbed to his injuries,” he said. The accident took place on Wednesday when the maintenance workers - three Sri Lankans and one Indian national - were fixing a leak at a gas converter at the plant in the Second Industrial City, Dammam. Al-Ghelaigah confirmed that the condition of the other Sri Lankan workers remained critical. “We are trying our best to shift them to a specialized hospital, possibly Saudi Aramco Hospital. Several other hospitals in the region would not admit them because of the severity of their burns,” he said. Although there is no compensation for the loss of life, the company will try to compensate Lionel's family, he said. Lionel worked as a maintenance technician at the company for over 12 years. “We don't want a repeat of this unfortunate incident so the company has been conducting a safety-first training program for our employees,” the official said. Al-Ghelaigah earlier denied allegations that the company has no safety measures in place for its maintenance workers. Al-Ghelaigah told Saudi Gazette that the accident was the first in the 15-year history of the company. “The company has all the safety gears in place, as evidenced from the company's safety record,” he said.
