Four people were killed and seven were injured when a massive crane collapsed at LyondellBasell's Houston refinery on Friday afternoon, a refinery executive said.
"It's a very sad day for us at the refinery," said Jim Roecker, LyondellBasell's vice president of refining operations, during a news conference outside the refinery's front gate.
All workers at the refinery have been accounted for, Roecker said.
Production at the 270,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery was not affected by the crane collapse, said refinery spokesman David Roznowski.
The crane was being readied to work in the overhaul of a coking unit at the 270,000 barrel per day refinery when it
collapsed at about 1:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. British time), the company said.
In addition to the coking unit, a crude distillation unit had been shut at the refinery for a planned seven-week overhaul. The refinery has two coking units and two crude units.
Roznowski declined to discuss the refinery's current level of production. He said it would be at least several days before Lyondell could determine how the crane collapse would affect the planned overhaul.
Roecker said the crane was operating, but was not lifting anything.
"It certainly is too early to tell what caused the issue," he said.
The crane fell on a tent which KTRK-TV in Houston said was used for worker meals.
The television station interviewed a man at a Houston hospital who was identified as one of the injured workers.
