Eastway explosion victims' families lay out their heartbreak, anger, hopes for change

Eastway Tank and its owner, Neil Greene, pleaded guilty to a total of three health and safety act charges and will be handed a fine for the explosion.

Published Apr 05, 2024 • Last updated 7 hours ago • 3 minute read

A composite of the victims of the Jan. 13, 2022 explosion and fire at Eastway Tank, Pump & Meter Ltd. Clockwise from top left: Kayla Ferguson, Danny Beale, Rick Bastien, Etienne Mabiala, Matt Kearney and Russell McLellan. HANDOUT PHOTOS

The families of six employees killed in the Eastway Tank explosion poured out their collective grief Friday as they remembered their loved ones in emotion-charged victim impact statements heard in court.

Eastway Tank and its owner, Neil Greene, pleaded guilty to a total of three health and safety act charges and will be handed a fine for the explosion that killed six people at a truck repair plant in Ottawa.

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Tracy Pritchard, the daughter of Rick Bastien, 57, a mechanic and welder, said she’s haunted by thoughts of what her father and his co-workers went through on the afternoon of Jan. 13, 2022.

“My dad didn’t deserve this: He was a good man with a big heart,” Pritchard said.

Her father, she said, was trying to find another job when he was killed. “If Eastway was so safe, this would never have happened,” Pritchard told court, adding: “How did these errors get missed? Why was this place not safe for these workers?”

Tanner Clement, an Eastway worker who survived the blast with severe burns to his hands, face and lungs, told court he’s angry since he’s convinced the accident was preventable.

“I am mentally scarred for life,” he said, “because of the deaths of my co-workers, running for my life out of a burning building on fire, and all the injuries I incurred.”

Tanner Clement, seen here outside the courthouse in Ottawa on Friday, was an Eastway Tank employee who survived the blast with severe burns to his hands, face and lungs. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia

Clement was flown by air ambulance to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto after the explosion. He was in an induced coma for days in the hospital’s burn unit and woke up to learn of the deaths of his co-workers.

Jean Schade, the mother of Eastway electrician Daniel Beale, 29, said she didn’t learn her son had died in the explosion until 11:30 p.m. — 10 hours after the blast — when a police officer knocked on her door.

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“Our world fell apart, realizing who we had lost, forever,” she said. “The pain you feel when a child dies is a deep, physical ache.”

In the months before her son’s death, Schade said, she often prayed for his safety. She lost her faith when she realized her prayers had not been heard.

Schade said her son did not live recklessly. “All he did was go to work one day,” she said.

Relatives of Eastway Tank explosion victim, Etienne Mabiala, leave the Elgin Street courthouse on Friday. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia

Celeste Mabiala remembered her father, Etienne, 59, an electrician and airplane engineer, as a gentle and patient genius. She said his loss was profoundly difficult.

“The worst was seeing all the things that my dad loved: his favourite cereals, his favourite TV show, listening to his favourite songs, seeing his slippers that he left, his headphones that he left on the stairs,” she told court.

Her sister, Darlene Mabiala, addressed her father directly: “Thank you for all the lessons you taught us,” she wrote in her victim impact statement. “Thank you for being my dad, showing me how a husband should treat his wife, and motivating me to follow my dreams. I can’t wait to see you again.”

In her victim impact statement, Tara Henderson said no one could make her laugh like her sister, 26-year-old Kayla Ferguson, whom she called “my confidant, my partner in every adventure, my source of strength.”

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“She didn’t deserve this and our family didn’t deserve to lose her like this. I always thought it would be us forever,” Henderson said.

In their victim impact statement, the family of Matthew Kearney, 36, a service supervisor and calibration technician at Eastway, said they hope they will never see other families “suffer from such a horrible workplace accident again.”

“We can only hope that other businesses will learn the lessons identified by the Ministry of Labour’s findings and those we hope to see from the fire marshall,” they wrote. “We hope that the importance of proper health and safety regulations, and implementing regular checks to ensure guidelines are followed, is evident.”

That message was echoed by Josh Bastien, the son of Rick Bastien, who called for more snap inspections of work sites with dangerous materials.

Lives are at stake nationwide, he said, adding: “The last thing I want is for anyone else to face this.”

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