Big Bend Power Station Explosion: Victims ID’d

APOLLO BEACH, FL — As authorities continue to investigate the cause of a Thursday explosion at TECO’s Big Bend Power Station that left two people dead and four critically injured, the names of the victims have been released.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced the names Friday afternoon. Deputies say the wife of one of the fatality victims, a 60-year-old man from Riverview, requested his name not be released to the public. Patch is honoring that request.

Get the Patch newsletter and alerts in your inbox.

Christopher Irvin, 40, of Tampa was the other person killed when the incident, described as an industrial accident by authorities, occurred Thursday afternoon.

The four surviving victims remained at Tampa General Hospital Friday afternoon, the sheriff’s office wrote in an email to media. All four are described as having life-threatening injuries. Authorities say they are:

• Gary Marine Jr., 32, of Tampa
• Antonio Navarrete, 21, of Wimauma
• Frank Lee Jones, 55, of Tampa
• Armando J. Perez, 56, of Wimauma

The accident at the 603 Big Bend Road plant occurred shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Routine maintenance was being performed on a "slag tank" when the accident happened, TECO spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs told Patch on Thursday. The tank contains burned pieces of coal and water.

Jacobs said five of the six people involved in the accident were contractors for TECO. One was an employee. Jacobs said the cause of the accident remains under investigation.

"It's a sad day here," Jacobs said on Thursday.

TECO officials also took to Twitter to express condolences to the families of those involved, and gratitude to first responders.

The Big Bend Power Station sits on 1,500 acres of land near Apollo Beach. It houses four coal-fired units, according to the TECO website.

No further information is available at this time.

Photo courtesy of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue