NORTH SALT LAKE -- Two Davis County men died at their family owned business after succumbing to either lack of oxygen or toxic fumes while doing routine maintenance inside a diesel tanker Monday.
The R-N-M Transportation workers, Kelly Thurston, 39, and his nephew Joshua Thurston, 23, died inside a diesel trailer used to haul liquid asphalt, according to North Salt Lake police.Rescue crews were called to the business, 805 N. Redwood Road, at 11:03 a.m. after an employee found the two men, who had been missing for at least 30 minutes. Both were pronounced dead at the scene and will undergo autopsies by the state medical examiner, North Salt Lake Lt. Steve Harder said.
Company procedure and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards require respirators be used when working inside a trailer cylinder. For some reason the respirators either weren't working properly or weren't being used correctly. OSHA is investigating to see if the respirators were up to standard and if the two men had been properly trained to use them, Harder said.
Harder, a 20-year veteran of the North Salt Lake police force, said he has seen several similar cases over the years in the industrial district where R-N-M is located.
"What usually happens is one person will be working inside and will pass out," he said. "The other guy will go in after him and will also lose consciousness."
In Monday's incident, authorities believe Joshua Thurston was working on an inside valve when he lost consciousness. Kelly Thurston, who was probably watching from an 18-inch hole at the trailer's top, then came in after him and also fell victim to the atmosphere. Fire crews who rescued the bodies from the cylinder reported that oxygen levels inside the trailer were below normal, Harder said.