NEWSPAPER & ARCHIVE
Hollywood (UPI) - A truckload of dynamite blew up at a rockpit Thursday, apparently killing three men. Two bodies were found and the man handling the dynamite was missing without a trace.
A spokesman for Broward County Sheriff Ed Stack said the cause of the blast had not been determined, but that it appeared a dynamite charge being either placed or removed by a blaster's assistant identified as McKINLEY JONES went off accidentally, setting off an estimated ton of dynamite on a nearby pickup truck.
No sign of JONES was found around the hole blown in the ground by the blast, which destroyed the truck which carried the explosives and overturned another nearby truck and a drilling rig being used at the quarry.
The bodies of CURTIS LEE SMITH and WILLIAM FLATEAU were found near the blast scene. FLATEAU was the driver of a tool company truck delivering drill bits to the quarry and SMITH was a dynamite blaster standing near the drilling rig when the explosion occurred, police said.
A fourth man, DAVID FRIAR, was in another truck near the scene but was only slightly injured when the blast blew out the windshield.
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