Lab Explosion

A small explosion during a chemistry experiment at the University of Massachusetts Goessman Laboratory sent three people to the hospital and shattered the lab's first floor windows.

Christine L. Costello a 25-years-old doctoral student in polymer science, was mixing two volatile chemicals together in a combination that is combustible only on contact with water. The mixture exploded in her face laving second-degree burns on her face and hands. Costello had been wearing protective gloves and hood at the time of the accident which occurred at 1:38 p.m. on Nov. 3.

"The safety precautions were there. It's just one of those things you can't foresee or prevent" said acting Amherst fire chief Victor A. Zumbruski.

Big Boom

"We heard a big boom, and people were screaming and someone was crying," said Kathryn Nobrega a zoology concentrator who was in the building at the time of the accident. She added that the hall filled with smoke before people could evacuate.

A safety officer at the laboratory who requested anonymity said that Costello would have been much more seriously hurt if it had not been for the swift actions of two people who rushed her to an emergency shower and called an ambulance. Costello's rescuers, Richard P. Nathorst, a polymer science research associate, and Edward Otocka an adjunct professor of polymer science were treated for smoke inhalation.