Around 6:00 pm on Tuesday night, November 17, three people were caught in an explosion at the Proliant plant in Lytton. The three men have now been identified as 52 year-old Dana Boom of Lake View, 34 year-old Earl Lee Moore of Milford Center, Ohio and 32 year-old Manuel Ruiz of Columbus, Ohio. The explosion happened in the rendering section of the plant and at the time Moore was inside a large storage tank preparing to patch weld a seam in the tank, Ruiz was assisting Moore as a spotter, and Boom was in the room at the time of the explosion.
Following the blast Moore and Ruiz were transported to Loring hospital in Sac City where they were then transferred by ambulance to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Moore’s injuries were considered life threatening and Ruiz’s were sever. Both men are employees of Heritage Equipment located in Plain City, Ohio. Boom, who is employed by Proliant, was transported to Stewart Memorial hospital in Lake City where he was treated and released. Investigators from the Sac County Sheriff’s Office and the State Fire Marshalls Office, along with Proliant management, are still on scene in an ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the explosion.
