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1 killed, 3 hurt in oil well explosion in North Dakota

Brooks says two other men, one from Wyoming and another from Colorado, suffered third-degree burns to 70 percent of their bodies.

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The fire was out when the Watford City Fire Department responded to the scene.

Twenty-eight-year-old Daniel Montes, of Fruita, Colo., and 27-year-old Richard Maheu, of Rock Springs, Wyo., are both still at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., and are still in critical condition after suffering third-degree burns.

Pyle was treated for minor burns to his face and released from McKenzie County Healthcare Systems Hospital in Watford City, authorities said.

OSHA investigators expected to have more information by Tuesday afternoon.

XTO Energy is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil.

Investigators told the AP that a preliminary probe revealed that the men were on a workover rig when a breached gas pipe ignited.

A Wyoming man working on an oil rig near Watford City, N. D. was killed in an explosion.

OSHA has launched an investigation and an inspector were being sent to the site Monday, Brooks said.

An investigation team has been formed to determine the cause of the fire.

The incident, which happened late Monday near Ross in Mountrail County, was the second oilfield-related death in North Dakota’s oil patch in the past week, the federal agency said.

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A spokesperson for North Dakota’s Oil and Gas Division says the explosion occurred at a well site operated by XTO Energy.

1 killed, 3 injured in oil well explosion near Watford City