Coal blast injures man

Photo: John Mclaird, Photos.com

Oct 23, 2012 at 6:12 am

DULUTH, Minn. (KNSI) An employee was critically injured in an explosion at a Minnesota Power coal-burning power plant in northeastern Minnesota.

Forty-one-year-old Joe Fredrickson of Silver Bay was in the coal bunker when the explosion happened Monday.

Frederickson was later transferred to Essentia St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, where he was in critical condition.

Schroeder Fire Chief Phil Bonin says it's unclear what may have triggered the blast.

A Minnesota Power spokeswoman says the coal bunker was being filled with coal with the blast happened. She says Fredrickson, an 11-year employee, was the only one in the immediate area.

The blast happened at the Duluth-based utility's Taconite Harbor Energy Center along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

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