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Utility Worker In Canton Blast Identified

Tony Webster
/
Flickr

Authorities have identified an Illinois utility worker who was killed in a natural gas explosion as 38-year-old Arturo Silva Jr., of Mapleton.  

Fulton County Coroner Steve Hines identified the Ameren Illinois worker on Thursday, a day after the explosion that rocked a downtown square in the central Illinois community of Canton. Several other people were injured in the blast, including three other Ameren workers.  

Canton Police Chief Rick Nichols said at a news conference Thursday that a two-block area around the square is still blocked off. He says it appears a contractor damaged a gas line while digging and that the utility workers were called to the scene. The cause of the blast remains under investigation.  

Nichols says the blast's impact was ``tremendous'' and that it caused serious damage.  
 

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