Evidence Sought in Fatal Gas Explosion

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (CN) - A widow and three workers who were injured when a natural gas power plant exploded in February, killing six, want access to the blast site and evidence from the explosion. Middletown Police have relinquished control of the site to Kleen Energy Systems, which owns it, and O&G Industries, which built it. The widow and the injured workers want evidence preserved, and access to the site.

The Kleen Energy Systems plant exploded on Feb. 7 while gas lines were being purged. The sonic boom from the explosion could be felt 10 miles away, according to a Courthouse News reporter, who felt it.

Two weeks after the fatal blast, the Middletown Police Department gave O&G and Kleen Energy exclusive control over the site, and the City of Middletown will soon relinquish possession of at least 75 pieces of evidence to O&G and Kleen Energy, according to the complaint in Middletown Superior Court.

The plaintiffs - Joseph Scovish, Kenneth Meloney, Dennis Riley - worked the plant with the late Peter Chepulis, whose widow, Dyann, is the fourth plaintiff.

The four say that that O&G and Kleen Energy may be at fault for the explosion "as a result of their negligent construction and safety practices and procedures engaged in at the site for weeks before the tragedy."

They want O&G and Kleen Energy enjoined from altering the blast site or destroying evidence. They ask that "all evidence, including the explosion site, be preserved for thirty days" to allow their representatives to examine and preserve the site and the evidence.

They are represented by Robert Reardon Jr. of New London.

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