Person killed in chemical plant explosion

Abstract

An explosion at a Seqens chemical plant in Newburyport, Massachusetts, early on May 4 killed one worker. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. This is the third serious accident at the plant, which manufactures pharmaceutical chemicals under contract, since 2020, when an explosion damaged a building. A chemical fire occurred at the site in 2021. The person killed was Jack O’Keefe, who according to a local news report had worked at the company for over 25 years. Four other workers on site when the explosion occurred were hospitalized as a precaution but were uninjured, according to Barry Salt, Newburyport’s deputy fire chief. “They had just wrapped up a typical manufacturing procedure that they’d done numerous times daily,” Salt says. “Obviously there was some sort of accident to cause the explosion, but what that was or how that happened is still in the beginning stages of investigation.” The plant