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CDOT avalanche mitigation explosion injures two state workers

LOVELAND PASS, Colo. (CBS4) – The explosion that injured two state workers during avalanche mitigation may have been caused by an unintended detonation.

The two state employees were injured Monday morning after an explosive used in avalanche mitigation detonated prematurely. The cause of that detonation is undetermined. 

The injured were behind their vehicles placed in an "L" position, but shrapnel from the misfire struck two of them in the upper body.

In 1991, a Ski Patrol leader at the Whistler Ski Area in British Columbia was killed when a shell fired prematurely.

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