Gas worker dies in accident at well pad
By Cheryl A. Clarke
cclarke@tiogapublishing.com Nov 1, 2018
A natural gas worker at an active well
pad in Middlebury Township died early Saturday morning, Oct. 27,
after a large piece of equipment fell on him, pinning him to the
platform 65 feet in the air where he was standing.
According to chief county coroner Dr.
James Wilson, Mark Jones, 54, of Kansas, was pronounced dead just
after 3 a.m. of blunt force trauma to the head after he had been
transported to the Soldiers + Sailors Memorial Hospital emergency
department by Middlebury and Wellsboro first responders.
“He was on top of the rig … and he
was up on the platform and part of it came apart and fell on him and
pinned him to the platform he was standing on,” Wilson said.
Though Jones was pronounced dead at the
hospital, Wilson said he believed the victim died at the scene.
The gas well pad is operated by Shell
Appalachia; Jones was an employee with Deep Well Services, 895
Cummings Creek Road, Middlebury Township.
Deep Well Services issued the following
statement: “At approximately 2 a.m. Saturday, during routine
operations on a well site in Tioga County, an incident fatally
injured a Deep Well Services employee. We are deeply saddened by this
loss and our thoughts are with the employee’s family and loved
ones. The safety of our employees is our highest priority and we are
working with authorities to determine the incident’s cause. Deep
Well Services is making all efforts – as we always do – to ensure
our employees are safe across our operations.”