APOLLO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An accident at a Florida power plant last month has claimed a fifth life.
BRACE Industrial Group said its employee, 56-year-old Armando Perez, died Thursday of injuries he sustained in the June 29 accident at the Tampa Electric Big Bend Power Station. Molten slag, a substance that can reach temperatures upward of 1,000 degrees, gushed from a containment tank and burning workers in the vicinity.
The Tampa Bay Times reports only one person who was injured by the slag remains alive: 32-year-old Gary Marine Jr.
Company officials say the incident happened at a coal-fired boiler while workers were performing routine maintenance on the slag tank at the plant southeast of Tampa. Slag is a byproduct created when coal is burned for electricity.
