Rescuers are searching for two southern Colorado plant workers trapped under a massive coal pile on Thursday.
Two employees at the Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo, Colorado, were buried under an 80-foot-high coal pile Thursday morning, the Associated Press reported.
Pueblo Fire Department spokesman Erik Duran said witnesses saw the moment the two workers were trapped under the slide at Colorado’s largest coal-fired electricity generating plant run by Xcel Energy, according to the AP.
The rescue team reached the plant 10 minutes after the witnesses saw the accident occur but has yet to make contact with the trapped plant workers. Two ambulances from American Medical Response and two emergency flight helicopters are on-site to take them to the hospital if the search and rescue team is successful, the Pueblo County Police Department reported.
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT PUEBLO COMANCHE PLANT
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— Pueblo Police Department (@PuebloPolice1) June 2, 2022
The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, Pueblo Rural Fire Department, Pueblo West Fire Department, Pueblo Fire Department, and the Pueblo Police Department are working to rescue the trapped workers, the PPD stated.
The plant employees work for a Salt Lake City-based company, Savage, contracted to run the coal yards at some of Xcel Energy’s coal plants, including the yard at Comanche, Xcel spokeswoman Lacey Nygard told the AP.
UPDATE:
The search and rescue crew found the bodies of the two workers who died after being buried under a collapsed coal pile for several hours, Pueblo Fire Inspector Erik Duran told KRDO.
“We found two men –one in his 20s and one in his 30s,” said Duran. “We reached the first victim at around 3:00 p.m. and found the second victim shortly thereafter.”
Duran said about 60 people joined the rescue effort to find the two men trapped in the coal pile, the outlet reported.
“Everyone who responded has heavy hearts after responding and taking part in a rescue operation like this,” Duran told KRDO. “We never like to come away with this outcome.”