What to know: 2 workers die after fall at Big Rivers Electric plant
Two workers at a Big Rivers Electric Corporation power plant in Henderson County, Kentucky, died Tuesday after falling into a confined drainage system.
Here's what we know, and don't know, about the incident as of late Tuesday, as well as some background on the company.
The names of the victims
Eric Williams, 34, of Henderson, and 39-year-old Phillip Hill, of Greenville, Kentucky, were killed in the incident, the Henderson County Coroner's office said Wednesday.
No official cause of death had been released as of Wednesday morning, though the office planned to release more information in the coming days.
What happened at the plant?
After the emergency call came around 1 p.m. Tuesday, emergency responders spent several hours attempting the rescue.
Kentucky: Two dead after falling into hole at Western Kentucky power plant
Donna Stinnett, public information officer for the city of Henderson, said toxic fumes were present in the confined space the two workers fell into. The fumes required a "tedious, slow" effort by emergency services during recovery.
Big Rivers Electric Corporation spokeswoman Stephanie McCombs said one of the victims was a company employee, while the other person was a contractor.
Stinnett confirmed the deaths via information from the Henderson Fire Department and Henderson County Coroner's Office .
Big River Electric Corporation President and CEO Bob Berry said the company is working with law enforcement, regulators and employees as the investigation continues.
What to know about Big Rivers Electric
The power plant, located on Kentucky 2096 in Robards, is one of four power plants Big Rivers owns in Western Kentucky. According to the company's website, the Robert. D. Green Plant, where Tuesday's incident occurred, produces the most power of the four.
In May, the plant received a Governor’s Safety and Health Award from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for going more than 250,000 hours without an injury resulting in lost time.
The power from the four plants combined helps provide power to customers in 22 Kentucky counties, including city-owned Henderson Municipal Power & Light, which contracts one of its power stations to the company.
In 2020, Big Rivers announced plans to move its headquarters from Henderson to Owensboro, along with 120 jobs. In 2019, the company and the city severed a longstanding power-generating partnership at an HMP&L-owned and Big Rivers-operated coal-fired facility.
Big River Electric is a generation and transmission cooperative, one of 62 in the United States, and employs around 400 people. It is a member-owned cooperative, with over 121,000 members.
Contact Ray Couture at rcouture@courierpress.com or on Twitter @raybc94
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: What to know: 2 workers die after fall at Big Rivers Electric plant
