Well incident injures three

BY ROBERT L. BAKER

Wyoming County Press Examiner

Three persons were injured early Thursday morning after an incident at a gas drilling site in Bradford County.

According to Brian Grove of Chesapeake Energy, "equipment failure occurring during completion work on a Chesapeake well located in Tuscarora Township" just west of the Susquehanna County line at around 4:30 a.m.

Grove noted that a "brief but forceful uplift of the tubing in the well occurred."

A dispatcher from Wyoming County's 911 communications center said that one person was thrown in the air and suffered back pain and injuries to his wrist. Another individual sustained back pain.

The Comm Center also said the incident occurred at the Mowry well site on Clapper Hill Road.

Grove said that two employees of a contract company actually were trying to get down off a rig and one jumped about 15 feet. The men were immediately transported to a local hospital for evaluation and treatment for non-critical injuries. A third contractor was later taken to the hospital for evaluation, also for a non-critical injury.

He added that there was "no release of any materials that could be harmful to the environment and the situation presents no danger to the public."