2 Colorado men ID’d as victims of explosion at Oklahoma dam

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) – Officials say two Colorado men employed by a Grand Junction drilling firm died in a May 13 underground explosion while they were working at a dam in Oklahoma.

The Grand Junction Sentinel reports that 22-year-old Hayden Tucker of Grand Junction and 48-year-old Philip E. Hughes Jr. of South Fork died in the incident, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Oklahoma.

Tucker and Hughes were working for DA Smith Drilling Co. when the explosion occurred about 80 feet (24 meters) down a shaft at the Robert S. Kerr Dam in northeastern Oklahoma, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Tulsa.

A third employee with DA Smith Drilling was working higher.