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FIVE maintenance workers died following a fire at a hydroelectric plant in the US state of Colorado on 3 October 2007.
The workers were trapped in a tunnel 450m below the surface and survived an initial chemical fire but were later overcome by fumes after the rescue attempt was hampered.
The fire broke out during a routine maintenance operation in a water tunnel. A machine used by the workers to coat the tunnel with highly-flammable epoxy sealant caught fire. The workers scrambled about 300m up the tunnel but could not climb the steep slope where the tunnel reached the surface.
Rescue teams used powerful fans to drive air into the tunnel to clear the smoke. Breathing masks and air tanks, as well as piped oxygen, were dropped to the trapped workers. However, according to reports, rescuers were uncertain whether the workers knew how to use the equipment.
Rescue teams were withdrawn from entering the tunnel amid fears of toxic poisoning and because the airflow in the tunnel could potentially cause backdraft. A confined space rescue team was later deployed to put out the fire from the bottom end of the tunnel and rescue the workers, but by this time they had died by inhaling fumes from the blaze.
Investigations into the incident are being carried out by several state agencies, including the Division of Emergency Management and the Division of Mine Safety.
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