Three Die in Iowa Tower Fall
Oakland, IA -- Three tower crew workers fell 1,100 feet Wednesday from an Iowa Public Television tower and died, according to the Associated Press, which quoted local officials.
Bill Hayes, director for engineering at IPTV, said the crew was replacing strobe lights. "They were up fairly high when something went wrong and all three members of the crew fell," Hayes told AP. "We don't know what the actual cause was.'' He said a fourth member of the crew was working on the ground, operating a winch, hoisting parts to the crew.
"We can only assume that the safety equipment failed,'' said Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker.
The men were identified by AP and in other published reports as Leo Deters, age 57; Jason Galles, 27; and Jon McWilliams, 19. They worked for Deter Tower Service.
Mississippi oil field explosion kills 3 workers, injures 1
Associated Press
RALEIGH, Miss. - An explosion Monday at an oil field in central Mississippi killed three workers and injured another, authorities said.The workers were on a catwalk connecting four storage tanks at the time of the explosion, said Gary Wray, one of the owners of Partridge-Raleigh Inc., which owns the 280-acre oil field located about six miles southwest of Raleigh in Smith County.
Two died in the blast. A third worker was pronounced dead at Magee General Hospital, said spokeswoman Althea Crumpton.
Deputy Marty Patterson, with the Smith County Sheriff's Department, identified the victims as Toby Scarbrough, Nicholas Wayne Pounds of Foxworth and George B. Jefferson of Columbia. Patterson did not know the ages of the men or Scarbrough's hometown.
