BINTULU (Jan 23): An explosion occurred at OCIM Sdn Bhd’s plant in Samalaju Industrial Park here last night.

The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) said no injuries were reported in the incident.

Firefighters from the Samalaju fire station were dispatched to the scene for monitoring purposes after receiving a call at 11pm.

When contacted today, Samalaju fire station chief Irwin Abidin said based on a report from the plant safety officer, the explosion is suspected to have been caused by a hydrogen gas leak from a filter vessel that accumulated within the shelter at PS1 A1 Section.

“The incident area covered 35 square metres, with the blast radius causing damage to four square metres.

“There was no explosion involving piping or vessels, and the damage was limited to the shelter panel wall,” said Irwin.

He added the plant operators isolated and shut down operations from Centre Control Room One to manage and stop operations during the incident.

No firefighting operations were conducted by Bomba.

Firefighters only monitored and collected information from the plant regarding the explosion.

Irwin added the Bomba Fire Investigation Division is still investigating the exact cause of the explosion.

In August last year, a fire that broke out at OCIM’s bottom reactor tank resulted in the deaths of two workers, while eight others were injured.

Also in Samalaju the following month, 100 Phase 3 pots at Press Metal were affected by a smelter fire, while in November an explosion occurred at an OM Materials (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd factory furnace workshop.

No one was injured in both incidents.