Shell blast injures 2 avalanche control workers
Two Colorado Department of Transportation workers have been injured, one seriously, after an avalanche shell exploded while they were working on Loveland Pass.
Department spokeswoman Crystal Morgan says the accident happened around daybreak Monday at the Seven Sisters, an area known for its steep chasms filled with snow and ice.
Transportation officials say the two workers were behind a barricade getting ready to fire a shell in a chamber when it went off prematurely, injuring both men above the waist. A third worker was not injured.
Officials said the work crews had already fired more than a dozen shells when the shell misfired.
The two workers were taken to St. Anthony Hospital.
