Power Plant Blast Claims Its 5th Victim

A fifth worker at Southern California Edison’s Mohave Generating Plant in Laughlin, Nev., has died from injuries sustained in a June 9 steam pipe explosion. Eight others remain hospitalized.

Becky Sordelet, a spokeswoman for Southern California Edison Co., said the latest victim was Howard Turner, 57, a plant equipment operator from Bullhead City, Ariz., who died late Monday. Five of his co-workers remained in critical condition in hospital burn wards, Sordelet said, and three others were reported in stable but serious condition late Tuesday.

Twenty workers were injured when the 30-inch steam pipe burst in the coal-fired plant. One was killed instantly when water and steam heated to 1,000 degrees shot from the ruptured pipe under 600 pounds of pressure. A control room 40 feet from the blast was destroyed, officials said.