Coal truck explodes, driver severely burned

D.Dashdorj, truck driver for Omog Tsagaan Shonkhor LLC, is barely hanging onto his life after getting 95 percent of his body burned in a car fire on November 9.

The sole breadwinner of a family of five was transporting coal to Gashuunsukhait border checkpoint when the fire broke out and ultimately burned out the entire salon of the truck. Fire fighters are speculating that the explosion was connected to the use of ventilation and fan heaters that weren’t specifically made for vehicles.

D.Dashdorj is a father of three children who are all under eight years of age.

His wife, D.Tuul, told the press, “The accident occurred around 2:00 a.m. Currently, my husband’s vitals are unstable, his heart is strained and he’s in a state of shock.” She added that she is struggling with the medical bills as D.Dashdorj was the sole breadwinner and Omog Tsagaan Shonkhor is refusing to cover the medical costs.

“I’ve tried met with Omog Tsagaan Shonkhor representatives twice. The first time, they agreed to meet at 4:00 p.m. but arrived after 11:00 p.m. The second time, they wanted to meet with the doctor so I had scheduled a meeting with the doctor at 11:00 a.m. but they arrived at 4:00 p.m. This is how the company is treating us,” she said.

D.Tuul added that Omog Tsagaan Shonkhor is owned by a Chinese company and that the Chinese side has refused to pay the medical expenses, and said, “The most important part of the treatment is skin graft treatment. However, there’s not enough reserve of healthy skin, which means we’ll have to order it from abroad.”

Head of the Federation of Energy, Geology and Mining Workers' Trade Unions Kh.Buyanjargal noted, “D.Dashdorj was in an accident and burned 95 percent of his body while on duty. Yet, Omog Tsagaan Shonkhor LLC is not covering its employee’s medical cost. The law states that an organization must cover medical costs of employees affected by an industrial accident. However, the law doesn’t apply to a company registered in Mongolia but owned by China. Hence, our federation requested the prime minister and minister of mining to halt the company’s operations until D.Dashdorj’s medical cost is provided.”

The family is calling on the public to help with the medical bills through donations.

At present, over 12,000 vehicles of 155 entities transport coal to Gashuunsukhait border checkpoint. An average of 1,500 accidents related to transportation of mining products are reported each year, according to recent statistics.