About 70 workers of a Chinese oil company working in West Kordofan were allegedly exposed to radiation in a workplace accident over the weekend of 6-9 June.

The company immediately transferred 21 of the workers, 13 Sudanese, six Chinese, and two Pakistani, to Khartoum for medical tests, El Taghyeer newspaper reported on Friday.

The workers were directly exposed to radiation at the oil field of Beleil in West Kordofan for a period of three days last week. An engineer reportedly left a radio-active device used in oil exploration inside a workshop without properly securing it at its underground location located 200km from the workers.

One of the workers explained to El Taghyeer that the device remained at the workshop frequented by workers and engineers without any protection between Friday and Monday evening. It was discovered as missing after some machines stopped working as a result of the radiation.

The Sudan State Minister at the Ministry of Oil, Hatim Abulgasim Mukhtar, commented by saying that high security and safety procedures are practiced in the Sudanese oil facilities. “Errors like that which took place at the Beleil oilfield last week are common throughout the world, despite the precautionary measures”.

In 2010, documents leaked to the press from within a Chinese oil company working in the same state revealed chronic lapses in implementation of standard safety measures.  

File photo: Sudanese oil workers at Heglig oil field