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Weld County Coroner says six Prospect Valley Dairy victims died from hydrogen sulfide exposure

The Weld County Coroner confirmed Thursday that six people died on a dairy farm in August from exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas.

The the report, as stated in a Thursday afternoon news release, confirmed what officials initially suspected to be a fatal gas exposure when the six people were found dead in an enclosed space at Prospect Valley Dairy the night of Aug. 20.

The six people who died were Jorge Sanchez Pena, 36, of Greeley; Alejandro Espinoza Cruz, 50, of Nunn; Oscar Espinoza Leos, 17, of Nunn; Ricardo Gomez Galvan, 32, of Keenesburg; Noe Montanez Casanas, 32, of Keenesburg. and Carlos Espinoza Prado, 29, of Evans.

The victims included a father and his three in-laws, authorities said. One of the victims was a Highland High School student.

Southeast Weld Fire District crews were first dispatched to the farm, located at 32063 Weld County Road 18, just east of Keenesburg, around 6 p.m. on Aug. 20, authorities said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation into the incident, a spokesperson told The Denver Gazette in the days after the incident. The organization has six months to complete that investigation and will not release any additional information about the incident until it is complete, the agency said.

“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the workers who lost their lives at the dairy farm in Keenesburg, Colorado,” the OSHA spokesperson said.

A search of OSHA’s investigation portal did not show any previous investigations into Prospect Valley Dairy.

Weld County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Melissa Chesmore said her agency didn’t find anything indicating a crime took place, the Associated Press reported.

Both OSHA and the Weld County Sheriff’s Office are still investigating the incident.


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