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Sandra Yi reporting The family of one of the workers that was hurt in the Provo explosion spoke with Eyewitness News today.
Two workers were brought to this University Hospital last night. Gustavo Cervantes is expected to be released sometime today, but Tim Beardall, a husband and father of three, is in critical condition.
Beardall was the most seriously hurt in the explosion at the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe plant. He has second-degree burns on hands and face and is on life support.
"Pray. Just pray for him. We need him," Tim's wife, LaDonna Beardall, said today. "He's not really responding. He doesn't talk. He's not opening his eyes. He's moving around, I don't know if that's because he's in pain or if he's responding to me."
She heard about the explosion from her mother, who felt the blast from her home. Darlene Nelson says she had a bad feeling about it. "If you'd heard the boom, I did and it terrified me, and I knew right off that he probably was injured," Nelson said.
"I just thought, ‘This can't be happening to me, not to my husband, not to my kids. We need him so much,'" LaDonna said.
Beardall is a lead man and crane operator at the plant who works the graveyard shift. He was on the job for four hours when the explosion happened. His wife says he was wearing protective gear, including a hard hat and gloves. He was also in a crane. His wife thinks that's what saved him "I think he's very lucky to be alive." She said.
Doctors are concerned about a chemical in his lungs but say they are not able to say what it is. LaDonna says doctors are cautiously optimistic about her husband, but he may need long-term therapy for his hands.
