Zimbabwean man dies as boiler explodes in New Zealand

Zimbabwean man dies as boiler explodes in New Zealand

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By Paul Madgwick

A ZIMBABWEAN man has died from severe burns in New Zealand after a boiler he was working on exploded in a ball of fire.

Police were trying to establish the cause of the fire that claimed the life of boilerman Possent Dlamini at a meatworks near Greymouth on Sunday.

Dlamini, 36, had been living in Greymouth and died of severe burns about 12 hours after the boiler exploded at the CMP Kokiri meatworks.

A West Coast CIB spokesman, Detective Constable Mark Lucas, would not say whether there were any suspicious circumstances.

Occupational Safety and Health inspectors closed the plant and staff have been told it could be several days before work resumes.

Dlamini suffered extensive burns over most of his body when he was engulfed by flames as he was lighting the boiler for the afternoon shift about 3.40pm.

A colleague raised the alarm and started to drive him to Grey Base Hospital, meeting the ambulance at an area called Dobson.

St John Greymouth station manager Wayne Ah Sam said Dlamini was able to walk into the ambulance and remained alert and talkative.

He told ambulance officers that he had poured some fuel on to the kindling, but it exploded when he lit it.

He was later flown by air ambulance from Hokitika to Christchurch but died about 3am on Monday.

A team of detectives completed the scene examination on Monday afternoon, but inquiries were expected to take the rest of the week, Lucas said.

About 12 people would be interviewed, most of them employees at the meatworks.
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