BODIES FOUND COMPOST TANK DEATHS UNDER INVESTIGATION.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

FILLMORE - Cal-OSHA officials were at the scene Thursday to investigate the deaths of two ranch employees found in a 1,000-gallon compost tea tank that police are calling an industrial accident.

The bodies of Miguel Lopez, 43, and Palemon Rangel, 43, both of Oxnard, had been floating in the tank for about 24 hours when they were discovered Wednesday, officials said.

``It looks like they might have become overcome with gas . . . there is no evidence of foul play,'' said Mitch Breese, a senior investigator with the Ventura County Coroner's Office.

Sheriff's Department spokesman Eric Nishimoto said they are calling it an industrial accident.

Lopez has worked for Progressive Land Management since May, and Rangel for seven years, said company owner Mike Mobley, who discovered the bodies. Mobley looked for the victims after learning a family member had reported that Lopez did not come home Tuesday.

Mobley said he last spoke to Rangel at 4 p.m. Tuesday and hold him the owner of the orange grove wanted one of the compost tea tanks cleaned.

The compost is a soil amendment that is used with water and other chemicals to grow microbes for 30 days and is then injected into the irrigation system, he explained.

The men were cleaning the byproduct from the tank by flushing it with water, which would then exit through a drain, he said.

Mobley, who has 17 employees, surmised that one of the men went into the tank and likely blacked out from the hydrogen sulfur gas fumes and that the other victim attempted a rescue.

``They were trained,'' Mobley said. ``They are trained not to go into the tank but to stay outside and flush out the tank standing outside.

``Palemon has emptied those tanks many times before,'' he said. ``Miguel Lopez, I'm not sure if he ever cleaned out a tank before. It might have been his first time.''

Mobley said there was no sign of toxic gas in the tank, which would smell like rotten eggs.

``The average person wouldn't dream of wanting to go inside that tank for any reason,'' he said. ``It smells bad and it's terribly hot in there.''

Dean Fryer, California Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman, said the investigation, which can take up to six months, will include looking at the kind of training and equipment provided to employees at the ranch for cleaning the tanks and interviewing the employer and other employees.

``What we are looking for is state safety and health (code) violations,'' he said. ``If we find there have been violations, we could issue a citation to the employer.''

Penalties for violations range anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to $70,000, Fryer said.

Dr. Prasad Mummaneni of Oxnard, who owns the property, was not available for comment. Progressive Land Management has no record of any previous violations, Fryer said.