Paul Myers, 43, refinery yardman, died attempting to save Walter G. Covington, 48, refinery leaderman, from suffocation, Kansas City, Kansas, March 16, 1953. Covington was overcome by hydrogen sulphide gas in a cylindrical cleaning tank 18 feet long and six feet in diameter, which was mounted on a trailer three feet above the ground. He fell face down in fluid chemical sludge four inches deep. Myers, who knew there were noxious fumes in the tank, lowered himself through a manhole opening and reached Covington, clasping the latter to his chest. Ascending a ladder from ground level, Cain E. Cloud reached downward through the opening and obtained a hold on Covington’s coat. He drew upward on Covington as Myers shoved from beneath, and they raised Covington’s head out of the tank. Myers, who had been in the tank 45 seconds, fell unconscious to the bottom, making no outcry. Cloud lost his hold on Covington, who dropped to the bottom of the tank. One of Myers’s feet was wedged in a steam coil extending along the side of the tank. Cloud’s calls for help attracted Thomas J. Ham, William D. Edmoundson, and four other men, all of whom ran to the trailer. Holding his breath, Cloud lowered himself into the manhole and made his way to Covington. As he returned with Covinington to beneath the manhole, Cloud was forced to inhale and became unconscious, slumping in a seated position atop Covington, who again dropped to the bottom. Arriving at the top of the manhole, Ham and two other men obtained holds on Cloud and lifted him to the catwalk, and Cloud was taken to the ground. Ham volunteered to enter the tank. Edmoundson and others held Ham’s legs, and he was lowered to the bottom and took hold of Covington around the chest. In calling to the others to raise him, Ham inhaled the gas and was overcome but maintained his hold on Covington. Both were lifted to the catwalk. As soon as the manhole opening was clear, Edmoundson volunteered to aid Myers. Holding his breath, he had the men lower him head first to Myers but was unable to free the latter’s foot and was pulled out of the tank. Using an eight-foot pipe, one of the men atop the tank dislodged Myers’s foot. At his own request, Edmoundson twice more was lowered and finally succeeded in fastening an end of a 50-foot rope to Myers. Edmoundson inhaled gas during his last entry and became unconscious soon after he was drawn to the catwalk. Myers was removed from the tank, and he and Covington were administered oxygen for an hour by police. Cloud, Ham, and Edmoundson revived at the scene. All were extremely nauseated but recovered: Covington was revived later at a hospital, but Myers could not be revived and was pronounced dead of asphyxiation. 3864-42835
42835 – 3864
42835-3864