911 recordings released following deadly DuPont chemical leak

LA PORTE, TX (KTRK) -- 911 tapes are giving new insight into the chaos right after a chemical leak Saturday morning at the La Porte DuPont plant. Four workers died and one other injured in the leak.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board says the facility released the chemical methyl mercaptan. The calls were coming in as crews assessed the situation.

"We have some injuries. We need EMS," the caller said.

"OK, you have a casualty?" asked the dispatcher.

"Casualties? Yes."

"OK, sir. How did this happen? Is is chemical related?

"I'm not certain," said the caller.

The chemical that leaked is used in the company's insecticide and fungicide manufacturing process.

The daughter of one of the victim's has hired an attorney. Jasmine Rae Wise, the daughter of Chrystle Rae Wise, has retained Texas based law firm Brent Coon & Associates to represent her and her estate. Coon & Associates represented many of the families following the 2005 explosion at BP in Texas City which claimed the lives of 15 workers.

Coon says his firm has filed a TRO to preserve evidence during the investigation in the Saturday leak. He also says he's filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Wise.

"We suffered a devastating loss of losing Crystle Wise during an on the job accident. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to all the other families affected by this tragedy. We hope that closure will come with answers in future reports. Special thanks to all first responders involved in containment and recovery efforts," Wise said.

The father of the two brothers killed released a statement reading in part, "The world lost two beautiful people. My sons were awesome, hard working men. They will be missed but never forgotten."

Meanwhile, eight investigators with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board arrived at around 8am Monday morning, but the unit where the workers died has not been deemed safe yet to enter. So investigators are speaking to employees to try to come up with a timeline of events. The idea was to draw up two timelines -- what should have happened and what actually did happen.

Representatives with the International Chemical Workers council are in La Porte, too, collecting information to provide safety recommendations and protect workers' interests.

"Almost all, it not all, of these traumatic injuries on the job are preventable, should not occur, very tragic that they occur on a regular basis," said union safety director John Morawatz.

The Chemical Safety Board doesn't issue safety or fines. It gives recommendations.

It could take up to a year to complete the investigation and release results. The CFB says they hope to have it done sooner.

DUPONT STATEMENT ON DELAY IN NOTIFICATION OF LA PORTE FATALITIES

After receiving an official determination by the Medical Examiner of four confirmed employee fatalities, we began notifying the employees' families immediately. Unfortunately, we were dealing with a contaminated unit that no qualified medical personnel could enter until deemed safe, because they were not trained in the use of the personal protective equipment (PPE).

Our non-medically trained personnel who initially responded before 7 a.m. Central Time (CT) with the proper equipment reported the employees as non-responsive and likely fatalities. It was on that basis that the unit was barricaded for investigation just before 8 a.m. (CT).

The incident scene was deemed safe to enter just before noon and the fatalities were confirmed by the Medical Examiner around 1:30 p.m. (CT) and we immediately began to inform families thereafter.