Attorney: 4 not in room where explosion occurred

RALEIGH — The attorney for a contractor being sued by two workers injured in the explosion at a North Carolina Slim Jim processing plant says its four workers were not near the site of the explosion.

Attorney Rod Pettey said in a news release Wednesday that two employees of Southern Industrial Constructors were at a trolley maintenance area. He says one was outside the building and another was at a wastewater facility some distance from the ConAgra Foods plant in Garner.

Federal investigators have said they think the June 9 explosion at the ConAgra Foods plant was fueled by a natural gas leak and that they had traced the blast to a pump room.

Two employees sued Southern Industrial on Monday. Three people died in the explosion.

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