Burns Claim Worker From J.R. Simplot Plant

POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) — A worker at J.R. Simplot’s Don Plant has died of burns from an accident at the fertilizer plant in Pocatello.

Company officials say 53-year-old Frank Rowberry was sprayed with molten sulfur as he inspected a clogged pipeline on Tuesday. The sulfur caught fire, and he was rushed to the University of Utah Burn Center in Salt Lake City with burns over more than two-thirds of his body.

A plant spokesman, Rick Phillips, says the company received word Thursday that Rowberry had died the previous night. He’s the eighth person in Idaho to die of a work-related accident this year.

Simplot and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating, partly to determine why the sulfur caught fire.

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