ARLINGTON – Six people working on a petroleum pipeline received severe electrical shocks Thursday afternoon when their boom truck got too close to high-voltage power lines southeast of Arlington.
Four of the workers were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The others were taken to Providence Everett Medical Center Colby Campus, Arlington Fire Chief Jim Rankin said.
Updates on their conditions were not available.
The workers, of Ohio-based Welded Construction, were on an unpaved road north of 156th Street NE replacing a section of the north-south fuel pipeline that extends to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Arlington assistant city administrator Kristin Banfield said.
The crew was using a truck-mounted crane to move the metal pipeline. Above the crane were power lines carrying 230,000 volts of electricity.
It’s unclear whether the crane actually came into contact with the power lines or whether electricity arced through the air, Rankin said.
Banfield did not know whether the pipeline was damaged during the 3:15 p.m. accident.
A helicopter picked up two of the injured workers from behind Sisco Heights Community Church in the 15600 block of McElroy Road.
Firefighters from Arlington Heights, Getchell and Marysville responded to the accident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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