Officials: Worker Dies after Pipe Slipped, Struck Him

Officials say a worker has died after a tracked vehicle moving a piece of pipe slipped on frozen ground and struck him in West Virginia.

Ohio County Emergency Management Agency director Lou Vargo tells the Charleston Gazette-Mail that the man died Thursday night. He worked for a contractor for MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P.

Vargo says two workers, the victim among them, were holding ropes attached to the suspended pipe to control its direction. He says the victim was holding the rope downhill from the vehicle when it slipped on the ice.

Marathon Petroleum communications manager Jamal T. Kheiry said in a statement that work on that project has been immediately suspended and that MarkWest issued a safety stand-down on all similar work sites across the Tri-state region while they investigate.