Two weeks after a deadly boiler explosion at Loy-Lange Box Co. in St. Louis launched a 1-ton tank hurtling 500 feet through the air and crashing through the roof of Faultless Linen, the tank was removed with a crane.
Explosion at Loy-Lange Box Co sent this piece of debris flying down block, thru roof of Faultless Linen Co killing 3 people here @FOX2now pic.twitter.com/l3f3kdxIu9
— Katie Kormann (@KatieKormann) April 19, 2017
The April 3 explosion killed four people and injured three others. Loy-Lange employee Kenneth Trentham, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene. Tonya Gonzalez-Suarez, 43, and her husband 46-year-old Christopher Watkins, who were about to start their first day of work at Faultless, were killed instantly. Their friend Clifford Lee, 53, also preparing to start his first day at Faultless, died from his injuries three days after the explosion. One person remains hospitalized in critical condition.
The tank that that was thrown by the blast was about three feet wide and 20 to 25 feet long. Loy-Lange is located at 222 Russell Boulevard; Faultless Healthcare Linen is one block away at the corner of Russell Boulevard and South Broadway.
An explosion launched a van-sized piece of boiler to the roof of a neighboring business in #STL. 3 dead, 4 injured https://t.co/j54tw2VNzL pic.twitter.com/c2XJeu3XNK
— FOX2now (@FOX2now) April 3, 2017
The Sons and Daughters of Soulard, a charitable group, has set up a GoFundMe page to help the victims and their families. Last week, after funerals for Faultless employees began, the company issued a statement that read in part:
“New offers of service, support, comfort and sympathy arrive daily. We are amazed and humbled by the caring response of the St. Louis community. Our deep and heartfelt thanks go out to all who have made themselves known to us as well as those who in anonymity have come alongside our company and our people in a time of need.”
The cause of the blast is not yet known. An investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety board is still underway.
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