DRILLER DIES AT U.S. BORAX; MAN DROWNS IN MUDDY PIT; FEDERAL, STATE AGENCIES BEGIN PROBE.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer A well-driller drowned after falling into an 8-foot-deep pit full of water and mud at a U.S. Borax borax or sodium tetraborate decahydrate (sō`dēəm tĕ'trəbôr`āt dĕk'əhī`drāt), chemical compound, Na2B4O7·10H2O; sp. gr. 1. mine, officials said Wednesday. Federal mine and state job safety officials are investigating the death of Charles Renato Rojas, 22, of Phoenix, who worked for a company hired by U.S. Borax to drill a water well outside the south fence of its boric acid boric acid, any one of the three chemical compounds, orthoboric (or boracic) acid, metaboric acid, and tetraboric (or pyroboric) acid; the term often refers simply to orthoboric acid. The acids may be thought of as hydrates of boric oxide, B2O3. plant in Boron boron (bōr`ŏn) [New Gr. from borax], chemical element; symbol B; at. no. 5; at. wt. 10.81; m.p. about 2,300°C;; sublimation point about 2,550°C;; sp. gr. 2.3 at 25°C;; valence +3. . ``It appears he fell into a well-drilling mud pit,'' Kern Kern, river, 155 mi (249 km) long, rising in the S Sierra Nevada Mts., E Calif., and flowing south, then southwest to a reservoir in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin valley. The river has Isabella Dam as its chief facility. County Chief Coroner's Investigator Jim Malouf said. Rojas was found by a colleague about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. A Borax paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic and Kern County authorities were called in, but Rojas was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy indicated he drowned, Malouf said. There was no explanation of how he fell into the pit, which officials said contained about 3 feet of water on top of an undetermined depth of mud, or why he could not get out. Rojas, who worked for Layne Christensen Co., had been operating a small drilling rig that uses a stream of water to bring to the surface the dirt and rock that has been loosed by the bit, officials said. The water and sediment flow into the drilling pit, officials said. This was the first death in more than two years at Borax's Boron mine and refinery, which employs more than 700 workers. A statement issued from company headquarters in Valencia expressed sympathy for Rojas' family. ``We will continue to cooperate fully with the agencies and provide whatever assistance we can to their investigation,'' said Preston Chiaro, senior vice president for operations. The last death was not of a Borax employee, but of a worker for a Minnesota company that had bought one of Borax's huge front-end loader front-end loader n. An earthmoving machine with a hydraulic scoop in front for lifting and loading earth or rubble. tractors. The worker was using a cutting torch in disassembling the tractor for shipment in June 1996 when a tire exploded ex·plode v. ex·plod·ed, ex·plod·ing, ex·plodes v.intr. 1. To release mechanical, chemical, or nuclear energy by the sudden production of gases in a confined space: . In 1995, a U.S. Borax mechanic died when a dump truck backed over his pickup truck. |
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