LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A man who suffered severe burns in an explosion at an insulation manufacturing plant has died, the first fatality in the blast that injured 44 plant workers.
Jimmy Lemmings, 42, died Sunday of multiple organ failure at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said Clinton Colmenares, spokesman for the hospital.
Lemmings was among those critically injured, some with burns over 70 to 90 percent of their bodies, after the blast Thursday morning at CTA Acoustics. As of Monday morning, 10 other people remained in critical condition.
The explosion and fire ravaged the insulation factory in Corbin, in southern Kentucky. It began near a furnace where raw fiberglass is mixed with a resin and molded into sheets. The blaze sent black smoke billowing through residential areas, forcing hundreds of people to temporarily evacuate.
Officials with the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are studying the cause of the blast. Their findings are not expected for several weeks.
