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Two Workers Fatally Electrocuted At Denver Company's Mine Near Moab

MOAB, Utah (AP) — Authorities say two workers were electrocuted and a third injured Saturday when industrial equipment at a potash mine in eastern Utah touched a power line.

The San Juan County Sheriff's Office says Russell Helquist and Matthew Johnston died at the Intrepid Potash facility near Moab and a third man, Arthur Secrest, was flown to an unspecified Salt Lake City hospital after being found unconscious but breathing.

The Sheriff's Office says all three men lived in nearby Moab.

The sheriff's office in neighboring Grand County initially reported the incident as an explosion.

Denver-based Intrepid manufactures fertilizer. The company also has mines in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and Wendover, Utah.

In a statement issued Saturday evening, the company said a "corporate crisis management team has contacted the appropriate authorities and the cause of the accident is currently under investigation. Operations at the Moab facility have been suspended pending the initial investigation."

Moab Explosion 1 (Grand County (UT) EMS FB)
Grand County EMS, quoting the Grand County Sheriff's Office, said on its Facebook page that the surviving worker was flown to the University of Utah Hospital in critical condition Saturday. (credit - Facebook/Grand County, UT, EMS)

Moab is 196 miles (315 kilometers) southeast of Salt Lake City.

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) 

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