3 Workers Killed In Waukegan Explosion Identified, Search Ongoing

WAUKEGAN, IL — Three Wisconsin men who died last weekend in a massive blast at a Waukegan silicone plant have been identified, as the search continued Tuesday for a fourth worker who remains missing and is presumed dead. The explosion was felt for miles around and deposited rubble from the AB Specialty Silicones plant more than a block away.

Lake County Coroner Howard Cooper said recovery operations were continuing Tuesday and would keep going as long as it takes to find the last missing worker and provide closure to his family. Cooper said teams combing the rubble have only a rough idea where his body could be.

"We've gone through the whole entire building, we've taken everything out, we're going back through some things now," Cooper told reporters. "We do have an idea of where we're thinking, but unfortunately with an explosion of this magnitude there's no way to know for sure."

The coroner explained that what remained of the building was potentially dangerous for investigators searching for human remains.

"It's been extremely hard. The reason being that when you have an explosion like this we don't know where everybody's going to be, so we have to go through painstakingly, piece by piece. Also we don't know what condition the bodies are going to be in," Cooper said. "The biggest problem here is that this is a very unstable building so we had to take it down piece by piece without anybody getting hurt."

Nine people were in the plant at 3790 Sunset Ave. at the time of the explosion, authorities said. Four people were initially taken to area hospitals, where one later died. Three people remained missing and were believed likely dead. Two of their bodies have been recovered so far.

Allen Stevens, 29, of Salem, Wisconsin, died from his injuries Saturday morning after being pulled from the rubble and airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. According to an online fundraiser established on behalf of his family, Stevens was an "exceptional husband, son, brother, uncle, nephew and cousin."

On Sunday afternoon, a search team from the Waukegan Fire Department found one of the two missing workers. It took more than two hours to remove the victim from the debris before his body was turned over to the Lake County Coroner's Office, according to Waukegan Fire Marshal Steve Lenzi.

Cooper Tuesday identified two of the men whose bodies were recovered from the rubble as Jeff Cummings, 57, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Byron H. Bieh, 53, of Brighton Township, Wisconsin. He said any preliminary results from their autopsies would not be released until toxicology results come in.

Described by his family as a hero, Cummings was a supervisor at the plant who ran back inside to make sure his team was able to escape, his son told WLS-TV.

Waukegan Fire Department Chief George Bridges, Jr. said local authorities were briefing federal personnel who had recently arrived to aid in the recovery and investigation, which he described as a collaborative effort with local and state officials.

"At this time, this is an investigation that we are currently in recovery still," Bridges said.

At least five other buildings were damaged in the area of the plant near the Gurnee border. Preliminary estimates put the amount of damage well over $1 million.

Earlier: 3 Dead In Waukegan Explosion, 1 Worker Still Missing

My outdoor cam recorded the Blast pic.twitter.com/qjlJQ74HBw
— Bhushan (@ibhushanjoshi) May 4, 2019

Footage of explosion in #gurnee #specialtysilicones #waukegan #chicago pic.twitter.com/z9Z6Apar4A
— Cesar E (@cmzesar) May 4, 2019