MOUNTRAIL COUNTY, N.D. (KFGO) – A funeral will be held today in Kansas for a worker who died from the injuries he suffered after an explosion on an oil rig in western North Dakota’s Mountrail County. Oscar Gandara was 38 years-old.
The rig blast – which could be seen by residents in the nearby town of Ross – happened the night of Friday, September 2nd. The family of one of the five Black Hawk Energy Services workers on the rig that night tells KFGO News that those workers alerted a supervisor of a leak twice before the explosion and the supervisor refused to follow proper protocol to address the leak both times.
Three of the workers were transported to a burn unit in Saint Paul for severe burns. Oscar Gandara died two weeks later. Another worker has burns over 80% of his body, according to his family.
An OSHA spokesperson told KFGO News that no information could be provided about the investigation into the blast while it was ongoing, and the state’s division of Mineral Resources says there is no additional information they can share beyond the initial incident report.
Chord Energy owns and operates the well where the blast happened but a spokeswoman referred questions to Black Hawk, the company that was servicing the well by a workover rig. Multiple calls to Black Hawk’s Williston office have gone unanswered.
A GoFundMe has been set up to benefit the family of Gandara. You can find the link here.
*This post has been corrected to properly reflect the ownership of the well vs. the rig.
