A father of three and longtime steelworker was among two people killed Monday in an explosion at the U.S. Steel plant south of Pittsburgh that also injured at least 10 others.
Timothy Quinn was pronounced dead at the site of the blast at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works plant, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Tuesday. He was 39 years old.
His sister, Trisha Quinn, told WPXI she raced from her home in Jefferson to the plant in Clairton after learning of the blast shortly after 11 a.m. Upon arrival, she could not locate her brother, but she did find his partner from the plant, who confirmed her worst fears. He told her her brother had been loaded into an ambulance and that he appeared to be dead.
“My dad worked at the steel mill for 42 years, and he would be disgusted at what the situation is right now. Accidents happen but … they need communication with the family,” she explained. “We need answers, we need them now, even if it’s not what we want to hear, we need to know something.”
His friend and coworker David Wheatley remembered Quinn as a hardworking individual and a “good dude.” He said Quinn most recently served as a heater at the plant, where his father also worked.
“Every time I’ve seen him in the parking lot, no matter what it was, he always smiled,” Wheatley told CBS News.
With nearly 1,300 daily employees, the U.S. Steel facility produces millions of tons of commercial coke — a type of fuel used in steel production — every year. The cause of the explosion there remains under investigation.
Allegheny County officials said 10 people were transported to area hospitals for “a variety of injuries” in wake of the blast. Five people were listed in critical but stable condition, and five were taken to the hospital, treated and released.
The second person killed has not yet been identified.
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