Three Killed In Gas Leak On Aircraft Carrier

Three workers were killed when methane gas leaked from a sewage pipe on an aircraft carrier under construction. About 1,800 other workers at the shipyard escaped safely.

The bodies were found shortly before midnight Saturday, about 12 hours after the lethal gas and sewage filled a compartment of the Harry S. Truman.

The dead were Richard Thompson, 45; Roosevelt Eure Jr., 42; and James Morris Jr., 40.

Officials at Newport News Shipbuilding and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were trying to determine what caused the leak.

The men were installing piping six decks below the flight deck near the front when the pipe began leaking about 11:30 a.m.

Prolonged exposure to methane can be fatal. The gas, formed by the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter, also is combustible.

Rescuers found the compartment - a 15-by-18-by-15-foot space - flooded with sewage up to 2 feet from its overhead hatch.

“Conditions were such that death could occur within seconds without proper respiratory protection,” said Fire Marshal R.L. Ware Jr.