Two Maintenance Workers Killed in Tunnel Blast at Ford Complex

DEARBORN, Mich. —  Divers located the bodies of two maintenance workers killed Monday when an early morning explosion rumbled through the underpinnings of Ford Motor Co.’s Rouge complex.

The victims were identified as Billy Stiener, 27, of Redford and John L. Hatch, in his early 50s, of Detroit, Ford spokesman John Spelich said.

The bodies were located at 7:30 p.m. Monday in a half-mile-long portion of a utility tunnel that carries electric, water, steam and compressed air services to several buildings at the 1,100-acre facility. The tunnel, seven to eight feet in diameter, was flooded with four to six feet of water after the blast apparently ruptured a water pipe, Spelich said.

“For the moment, our No. 1 priority is to find out what caused the accident,” said Alexander J. Trotman, who will become executive vice president for Ford’s North American operations on May 1.

The blast tore holes in parking lots, flipped cars, blew windows from a three-story power substation and forced the company to shut down a number of operations, including the Mustang automobile assembly line.

John Schultz, a driver for a bus company Ford contracts to carry people around the huge complex, said he saw “flames shooting 300 to 500 feet into the air for a short period of time” shortly after the 6:20 a.m. blast.

Spelich said the two victims were employed by Doetsch Industrial Services Inc. of Detroit. A woman answering the Doetsch telephone, who refused to give her name, said the company has done maintenance work at the Rouge complex for years.