DODGE CENTER, Minn. (AP) - The Latest on a truck plant explosion that injured several people in southeastern Minnesota (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
Investigators from Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health will investigate an explosion at a truck manufacturing plant that injured several employees.
Authorities say six people were hurt in the explosion Wednesday morning at McNeilus Truck & Manufacturing in Dodge Center, in southeastern Minnesota.
McNeilus is part of Oshkosh Corp. in Wisconsin. An Oshkosh Corp. spokeswoman says five injured employees were “under medical care.” She said she could not give details.
The company will work with local authorities on the investigation.
The plant makes cement trucks and refuse trucks and employs about 1,000 in Dodge Center, a town of 2,700 about 70 miles southeast of Minneapolis.
Mayor Bill Ketchum says, “Anytime you have something like that - big town or small town - it’s a tragic thing.”
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2:30 p.m.
A sheriff says a truck plant explosion that hurt several people in southeastern Minnesota could have been much worse.
Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose told reporters that many employees at McNeilus Truck & Manufacturing in Dodge Center who would have been in the area of the paint shop explosion were off-site at a training exercise Wednesday.
Rose says six people were injured. He says two were airlifted to Regions Hospital in St. Paul while two were taken by ambulance to Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester. Their conditions were not available. Another two were being treated at the scene.
The sheriff says it’s his understanding “it was quite an explosion.” He says all employees have been accounted for.
According to the McNeilus website, the plant has a 145-acre campus with 15.5 acres under a roof.
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1:50 p.m.
Authorities say an explosion has injured six people at a truck plant in southeastern Minnesota.
The explosion happened Wednesday morning at McNeilus, a truck manufacturer and major employer in Dodge Center about 70 miles southeast of Minneapolis.
Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose says the explosion happened in the paint shop. Rose says two people were airlifted to a hospital while two others were taken by ambulance. He says two others were being treated at the scene.
Rose says many employees were off-site at training, so there were fewer injuries.
Investigators remain inside the complex, which has closed production for the day. The sheriff says the scene is safe and the road outside has reopened.
McNeilus is part of Oshkosh Corporation in Wisconsin. An Oshkosh representative did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that four people were taken to hospitals instead of five.
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1 p.m.
Emergency crews are at the scene of a possible explosion that injured several people at a truck plant in southeastern Minnesota.
The incident happened Wednesday morning at McNeilus, a truck manufacturer in Dodge Center.
Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Troy Christianson tells KTTC-TV (https://bit.ly/2jjSXB2) that five people are hurt. Christianson says two people have been airlifted to a hospital while three others were taken by ambulance.
The road to the plant is blocked off. Several law enforcement vehicles are outside the building.
A woman answering the phone says the company has no comment. No one was available to comment at the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, the lead agency in the investigation.
Dodge Center is about 70 miles southeast of Minneapolis.
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