
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 2, 1994                    TAG: 9406020464 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D3    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940602                                 LENGTH: NORFOLK

FIVE CIVILIAN WORKERS HURT IN EXPLOSION AT NORFOLK NAVAL STATION

{LEAD} Five civilian Navy workers were injured, one critically and two seriously, when an electrical system they were repairing exploded Wednesday at a Norfolk Naval Station pier.

The most critically injured, Nelson E. Dettmer, 34, of Norfolk, suffered life-threatening burns over 95 to 100 percent of his body, according to a spokeswoman for Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

{REST} Two others suffered second- and third-degree burns and were listed in serious condition. They are Andres Melendez Jr., 25, of Virginia Beach, with injuries to a hand, right leg, arm and shoulder, and Larry D. Agee, 31, of Newport News, who has burns on his chest, hands and abdomen.

The other two men - Federico L. Pagaduan, 52, of Virginia Beach, and Stephen D. Kendall Jr., 29, of Suffolk - suffered smoke inhalation and were discharged from the hospital.

All are employed by the Navy Public Works Center.

The accident occurred about 10 a.m. on Pier 23 on the Elizabeth River, just west of Hampton Boulevard at Gate 5. The pier, normally used to dock submarines, was undergoing renovations, said Senior Chief Petty Officer Jim Barron, a spokesman for the base.

The three men who were seriously injured had descended a ladder into an electrical vault - an enclosed room beneath the pier large enough to stand inside. They were to have installed a 480-volt circuit breaker, about 18 inches square, Barron said.

The vault is one of four or five under the pier that contain power lines used to provide electrical current to ships at pierside.

``All we know is that there was a pop and a quick explosion,'' Barron said. The explosion is still under investigation.

There was little fire or other damage, Barron said.

All three men crawled out of the vault on their own, despite their injuries, said Bruce Jones, a union chairman who represents the Tidewater Virginia Federal Employees Metal Trades Council for the Public Works Center.

The men were attaching one of the circuit breakers when the explosion occurred, Jones said.

``Somehow it exploded. Very seldom that happens,'' he said. ``It looks like they were following the procedures. There was a supervisor down there with them.''

{KEYWORDS} ACCIDENT GENERAL EXPLOSION

by CNB