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FORT WAYNE - A Mentone man injured in a Nov. 2 explosion succumbed to his injuries Wednesday.
Richard Grimm, 38, of Mentone, died at 9:47 a.m. at Parkview Hospital, Fort Wayne, where he was a patient since being airlifted from Valley Foods (formerly Kralis Brothers Foods), Tinkey Road, Mentone, after the accident.
Grimm suffered burns to the right side of his face and inhaled some of the flame, officials said. He also suffered three broken ribs, a punctured lung and a concussion. He was comatose and in critical condition after the accident, but was upgraded Monday to fair condition before his condition worsened.
Grimm, an employee of Craig Welding of Mentone, was working at Valley Foods to replace roof support rafters in the chicken processing plant when the cutting torch he was using apparently ignited a previously undetected natural gas leak.
The natural gas was pocketed in a false ceiling in the area where Grimm was working to cut out the final rafter. When the explosion occurred, Grimm was blown off the ladder from which he was working and onto a cement floor. A flash fire occurred along with the explosion, but it burned itself out almost immediately.
