21-year-old killed in tank explosion named

Police have named a subcontractor who was killed when the bitumen storage tank he was working to make safer exploded.

He was Kieran John Hudson, 21, of Greymouth.

Police said he was welding on the top of the 18,000 litre tank at the Fulton Hogan Bitumen plant in Main South Road, when it exploded about 9.40am.

Mr Hudson, who had been working to extend guard rails, died instantly.

Fulton Hogan New Zealand chief executive Bill Perry said he understood none of the other people working near the tank were injured .

The accident was a great tragedy, he said.

The company would be working with authorities to find out the cause.

"Emergency services are attending at the moment and myself and other senior managers are on the way to Greymouth.

"The Labour Department have been notified and we will be carrying out a full investigation over the next few days."

A man, who was about 600 metres from the explosion, said a piece of vent flew off the tank and left a big hole in his workplace roof.

"It sounded like a bloody sonic boom going through the place," the man, who did not want to be named, told a news website.

A man who worked at Coast Glass, about 250m away from the site, said the explosion was "like a bomb going off".

"All we just heard was a big blast," Jarrod Roberts told the website.

"You could just feel the waves coming towards you - it shook everything."

- NZPA