Authorities have released the name of a 45-year-old man who died after a tire on a large front-end loader apparently exploded in southwestern Michigan.
The explosion was reported Tuesday at a business in Kalamazoo. The Kalamazoo Gazette reports workers say he had been using the front-end loader to move wooden industrial pallets. The sound of the explosion was heard throughout the area.
Police say they found Christopher Hugh Murdock of Kalamazoo with severe traumatic injuries and attempts to save him were unsuccessful.
The death is under investigation. John Breslin, owner of Kalamazoo Pallet Co., says the company feels "terrible for the family, completely terrible."