CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Officials continue to investigate an explosion over the weekend along Corpus Christi's Refinery Row that sent seven men to the hospital. Five of them are being treated at the San Antonio Military Medical Center.
Corpus Christi's Deputy Fire Chief Richie Quintero said his department got word about the explosion at the Magellan storage tank at Poth Lane and I-37 a little after 10 a.m. Saturday. Ambulances raced to the scene and by 10:13 a.m., they had already transported the first of the seven patients to the hospital. By 10:36 a.m., all patients had been taken away to hospitals.
The flames came from a storage tank that the victims were doing routine maintenance on. Firefighters were joined in the battle by the Refinery Terminal Fire Company and the Annaville Department. A Reverse Alert was also sent out to warn nearby residents.
"It'll be a large effort, but together hopefully we can find something that was either could be fixed, probably what could come down to the exact nature of what occurred, so that we can hopefully put preventative measures in place," Quintero said.
The men who were hospitalized were all said to be employees of Shelton Services, a company that had been contracted to inspect and clean the storage tank owned by Magellan.
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