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2 injured in US Magnesium plant thermal explosion

Posted at 5:32 AM, Feb 21, 2014
and last updated 2014-02-21 13:46:17-05

TOOELE COUNTY, Utah -- Two people were injured in an explosion at the US Magnesium plant in Tooele County Friday morning.

Emergency crews and medical helicopters responded to the scene just after 5 a.m.

Officials said two workers were doing maintenance on a piece of equipment when a thermal explosion occurred, causing hot steam to release and burn the workers. The extent of injuries has not been released.

Officials said a 49-year-old supervisor and a 25-year-old employee were injured when something went wrong as they were bringing the piece of equipment back into service. Tom Tripp of US Magnesium described the incident.

"This is a brick lined steel structure, had a lid on it...there was an explosion internal to that and there was a release of some hot gas," he said.

FOX 13's Scott McKane was at the scene. Watch his full report in the clip above.

Continue to watch FOX 13 and fox13now.com for the latest updates.