The state Bureau of Labor Standards has boosted the University of Maine’s fine to $111,000 for safety violations contributing to the death of a worker who was overcome by toxic gas fumes at the campus’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin last week.

UM initially was fined $18,000 after William O’Coin, 43, of Ellsworth, systems manager at the facility, was killed while helping a 16-year-old co-worker out of a concrete tank the pair were cleaning. The boy, George Schaefer of Sullivan, is in serious condition at the intensive care unit of Children’s Hospital in Boston.

Labor officials boosted the penalty in an amended report issued Monday in which the number of violations involved in the incident was increased from nine to 12 after “information came to our attention which caused us to look further,” bureau director Michael Frett said.

UM spokesman Joe Carr said officials “were reviewing the report and preparing for the next step in the process, which is to meet informally with bureau representatives to discuss the proposed penalties.

“We again reiterate our sorrow regarding the tragic events in Franklin and continue to take steps to ensure the health and safety of all university employees,” he said.

Part of a sealed system that wasn’t designed to be cleaned, the 6-foot-wide tank was used to recycle water for cultivating halibut.

The water earlier had tested positive for hydrogen sulfide, but no one was aware the gas had built up in the sludge in the tank, Jake Ward, UM director of industrial cooperation and administrator for the center, said just after the July 29 incident.

Schaefer was in the tank, spraying water from a hose on the sludge, and was overpowered by the resulting hydrogen sulfide fumes.

O’Coin yelled for help and climbed down to assist Schaefer. He managed to pull the boy’s head out of the water before he succumbed to the gas.

Schaefer climbed out of the tank on his own and was taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth and then to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. He later was transferred to Boston.

The new report Monday alleged UM failed to ensure that O’Coin, the supervisor, was aware of the dangers involved with cleaning the tank. O’Coin was trained to handle hazardous materials but Schaefer was not, said Ward.

U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration rules specify that when dealing with confined space, one or more persons must be outside as attendants, Frett said.

“No one’s been able to say who exactly were the only persons there moments before both wound up inside the tank,” he said.

Violations must be corrected by Aug. 26, according to the report.