Widow of man who died in Eastway Tank explosion talks of grief and her need for answers
Louise Martel has laid her partner, Rick Bastien, to rest, but wants to know how explosion killed 6
"You're not supposed to die when you go to work."
Louise Martel remembers the day her partner Rick Bastien went to work and never came home. His memory still hangs heavily in her house in Luskville, Que.
Family photos. Unfinished basement renovations. A puppy named Ricky. A tattoo above Martel's heart.
"This is my retreat," she says of her bedroom, where she prays by Bastien's ashes and sleeps by a lamp imprinted with his face.
"So I'm not in the dark at night."
Bastien, 57, was one of six employees who died in the Jan. 13 explosion and fire at Eastway Tank Pump & Meter Ltd., known for building and servicing fuel-carrying tanker trucks.
Several agencies continue to investigate the blast, which also killed five of Bastien's co-workers. Etienne Mabiala, Danny Beale, Kayla Ferguson and Russell McLellan died at the scene, while Matt Kearney succumbed to his injuries in hospital the next day.
Investigators have warned their work to determine the cause of Ottawa's worst industrial incident in decades could take months, leaving families in a painful limbo.
"It's hard to move on because we don't have all the answers," Martel said.
The text that never came
Martel met Bastien in 2012. He was a handyman who loved the outdoors and liked to help others, and he worked as a welder and fabricator at Eastway for many years.
"They gave him a chance," she said of Eastway.
While Bastien became concerned about the company's safety conditions, he stayed at Eastway — even after helping extinguish one fire — because he couldn't secure work elsewhere, Martel said.
"He told me that someone [was] going to die there. I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'Well, people don't care.' So I said, 'Well, how can you go work?' He said, 'I don't have a choice.'"
Bastien's son Josh, who worked at Eastway for three years until the spring of 2021, is one of several former employees who have alleged a history of past safety lapses prior to the Jan. 13 blast.
That afternoon, Martel saw a social media post about an explosion but with no specific address cited.
When Bastien didn't walk through their front door by 6 p.m, she began to worry, checking online for any reports of a car crash.
"Rick would have texted me, and he didn't," she said.
A brief moment of hope
Martel and other family members of Eastway employees were summoned to an Ottawa church that day. In a news release at the time, police said it was "to ensure everyone who was working at this location is accounted for."
Families were placed together in a big room and, after a wait, were told by police that three Eastway employees were in hospital and five "didn't make it," Martel recalled.
"They didn't say 'missing' ... so we screamed. A lady just fell apart on the floor. We have our pain. Why did they have to tell us that in front of everyone?"
Police didn't immediately make it clear which three Eastway workers were in the hospital, giving Martel brief hope that Bastien was still alive, she said.
"I shook my head. 'You just said there were three at the hospital. So who are they?' And that's when they said, 'They are already with their family.'
"Why didn't they say that at the beginning? That's another shock."
Ottawa police declined an interview, but provided a written statement.
Based on Martel's concerns, the service said it will now ensure that people who don't want to receive information in a group setting can do so in private.
"The feedback from Ms. Martel or any families impacted by this event is most welcome," according to the statement. "It shines a light on what is helpful and what is not from those most directly impacted during this tragic and traumatic event."
Company offered money
The day after the explosion, Eastway owner Neil Greene said in a statement to CBC News that he was completely devastated and sent his deepest condolences to the families.
"Please know that Eastway Tank will be there for you without fail in the weeks and months ahead," his statement read.
Martel did not immediately hear from Greene after the explosion, she said. Her first contact from him was a letter dated Jan. 18 — five days after the explosion — echoing his remarks to media and outlining supports such as crisis counsellors, she said.
Martel said Greene then called her but she was not prepared to meet and talk. In a follow-up letter dated Jan. 27, Greene called Bastien a well-liked and highly respected member of the Eastway team and enclosed a cheque to help Martel cover immediate financial needs.
She accepted the money, but wrote Greene back via email to say, "Your contribution will not eliminate the need for families to obtain answers to the many questions that remain unanswered."
Greene could not be reached for comment for this story.
Martel had trouble sleeping after the explosion. When she closed her eyes, she saw her partner burning.
Her mind started to ease after a call from Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario helped let her know "Rick didn't feel anything. He was there a second, the other second he wasn't there."
When the coroner's office told her Bastien's remains had been located but still could not be retrieved, Martel went to the Eastway site's gate, she said.
"That was the hard part: knowing that he was there and I couldn't go to him."
Waiting for answers
Martel held a service for Bastien on Feb. 12 after receiving his remains.
To seek closure, she has reached out to an Eastway employee to ask about Bastien's last moments before the explosion, but that person has not responded, she said.
The Office of the Fire Marshal, Ontario's Ministry of Labour and the Ottawa Police Service continue to investigate the explosion. Neither agency had a noteworthy update as of early April. The ministry has one year to lay charges, if any are deemed necessary, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Transport Canada, which regulates companies like Eastway that handle highway tanks, is monitoring the investigations and said the company's registration remains valid.
Eastway could resume operations at its heavily damaged Merivale Road site, a Transport Canada spokesperson said. To operate from a different location, Eastway would need to request an amendment from Transport Canada — which it has not done, the spokesperson added.
"I just wish nothing like that … will ever happen again," Martel said.
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With files from Alexander Behne and Simon Lasalle