Five people are in hospital after an explosion occurred at an oil site north of Cochrane, Alta., starting a fire that sent plumes of dark smoke into the sky.
Cpl. Gina Slaney of the Alberta RCMP said Cochrane RCMP and emergency services responded to calls of a workplace explosion off of Range Road 40 north of Big Hill Springs Road in Rocky View County, at approximately 2:15 p.m. on Monday.
Upon arrival at the scene, officers determined that a five man crew had been conducting drilling operations on a lease site when the explosion happened.
Slaney said all five crew members sustained burn injuries, and that two people are suffering from serious injuries. They have all been transferred to a medical centre in Calgary.
Alberta Occupational Health and Safety will be taking over the investigation.
The fire is expected to burn for several days, said Slaney, and a specialized oil field fire crew has been dispatched from Lacombe, Alta. to handle the fallout.
Chris Ratzlaff, who lives in Airdrie, was driving west on Big Hill Springs Road on Monday afternoon at around 2:30 p.m. when he said he noticed a large black cloud of smoke to the west and pulled off to the side of the road to take a photo.
“The flames were going quite high,” said Ratzlaff.
“You could see basically like a jet of flame coming up.”