WAUKEGAN, Ill.—The Lake County (Ill.) Coroner's Office has identified two of the victims in the explosion at AB Specialty Silicones in Waukegan.
Jeff Cummings, 57, and Byron H. Biehn, 53, died the evening of May 3 in the explosion and resulting fire in a building on the campus of the silicone materials manufacturer.
Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper identified Cummings and Biehn in a May 7 press release. The autopsies were performed May 6, Cooper said, but the results of the autopsies are being withheld pending toxicology results.
Cooper did not reveal the identity of a third victim, and a rescue team was still searching for a fourth as of May 7. The search is impeded because the building that suffered the explosion is no longer structurally sound, Cooper said during a May 5 press conference.
There were nine workers in the AB Specialty Silicones building at the time of the explosion. Of the remaining five, three went to the hospital and two refused treatment.