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Illness Attributed To Silo LeakageLITTLE KOCK (AI*» - Apreliminary survey by the state Health Department indicates that the illnesses of at least 21 residents of Guy are attributable to exposure to nitrous oxide, state Health Department Director Dr. Robert Young said FridayYoung said he will begin a more detailed survey next week of the region near thie site of the Sept. 19 Titan II missile explosion. The blast occurred at Damascus. Gu\ is several miles to the southeast.Young said the state Health Department surveyed 72 residents of Guy after several complained of respiratory problems headaches and fatigue Hr said two-thirds of the Guy residents complained of nose and throatirritations Guy's population is about 179Young said the Center for Disease Control at Atlanta has agreed to help the department design the new survey It will rover a broader area, and ask more sophisticated questions, he saidOfficials from the Center for Disease Control will arrive In Little Hock early next week, Young said.Meanwhile, Dr. Hichard Hinkle of (Quitman, a town of about 354 population about six miles east of Damascus, said Friday that some of his patients are more 111 than they were immediately following the explosion. Hinkle said some of his patients are suffering severe bronchial spasms that makethem unable to breath freelv. At least two peoplt are bedridden, he said.“This is not just an ordinary respiratory infection,” he said Nitrogen tetroxide, a com ponent of a fuel propellant used in the Titan II missilet., leaked from the missile before the ex plosion. Air Force officials saidthe nitrogen tetroxide was contained m the silo and burned by the flames, so that there was little danger of it contaminating the atmosphere However Young said Air Force officials In Washington told him Wednesday that the explosion could have forced the gas high enough in the air for it to have drifted in several direc-lionsAir Force officials said theexplosion occurred after a fuel tanak was punctured when a wrench socket was dropped in the silo.The blast in the early morning hours of Sept. 19 killed one man and injured 21 othersSgt. Jeff Kennedy, 25, of Soutn Portland. Maine, one of the two airmen who were inside the silo monitoring the fuel teak when the explosion occurred, was released from a Little Rock hospital Friday. Kennedy and Staff Sgt. David Livingston, 22, of Heath, Ohio, were leaving the silo when the blast threw them 125 feet into the air and against a fence. Livinuston died the day after the explosion.Two other airmen injured in the accident remain hospitalizedat Little Rock Air Force Base hospital in good conditionAir Force officials said Tuesday that 270 surface water, ground water, air and soil samples conducted around the devastated missile silo site showed no significant environmental damage ”Water samples were taken earlier this week from the mis sile silo site to Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, to determine whether chemicals from the explosion leaked into the soil and ground water.AThe Air Force reported that neither hydrazine, a component of the missile fuel, nor nitrates were found in water from two wells on the site
Newspaper Details
Fayetteville Northwest Arkansas Times
Fayetteville, Arkansas, US
Sat, Oct 04, 1980
Page 2
Full Page
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Arkansas S.
AR, USA 14 Feb 2020
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