NC Slim Jim plant explosion claims fourth victim

RALEIGH -- An explosion that tore through a Slim Jim plant in North Carolina last summer has claimed a fourth victim. A spokesman for the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill said Monday that 55-year-old Curtis Ray Poppe died last week, five months after the blast at the ConAgra plant in Garner. An obituary posted by a Hickory funeral home said Poppe's family greeted friends there Sunday. U.S. Chemical Safety Board lead investor Don Holmstrom would not confirm the blast had an additional death, but said four critically burned victims were among the 71 who required treatment at area hospitals. (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)