Two Chinese workers killed at Canada oilsands site

CALGARY, Alberta, April 25 (Reuters) - Two Chinese workers were killed and four injured when a massive oil tank under construction at an oil sands project in northern Canada collapsed on Tuesday.

The workers were employed by a contractor at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s (CNQ.TO) C$10.8 billion ($9.6 billion) Horizon oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta. The company identified them only as Chinese citizens and did not give their names or the name of their employer.

The two men died when the roof support at a tank erection site collapsed.

"It's under investigation and the tank farm area has been sealed," said Real Doucet, Canadian Natural's senior vice-president of oil sands.

Doucet said the company and Alberta provincial authorities are investigating the accident. Canadian Natural uses foreign workers because of labor shortages in northern Alberta, where a number of oil sands projects are under construction.

Two of the injured workers have already returned to the construction camp, while the others remain in hospital with non-critical injuries.

Doucet said the deaths are the first at the project.

"All the other accidents we've had have been minor in nature and we've had over 60 million man hours (of work) done on the site," he said.

($1=$1.12 Canadian)