Quarry worker still in critical care

Jon Day, 29, of Williams, Ind., remains in critical condition at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, five days after suffering an accident at the Maple Hill Quarry on Rockport Road. \nDay was one of two workers injured when a slab of limestone block broke loose from the wall of the quarry. The men were on a ledge preparing to work on the limestone when it partially fractured and fell, said Assistant Chief Joe McWhorter of the Perry-Clear Creek Fire Department.\n"It hit both men, but one (man) got caught between two rocks, and it pinned him," McWhorter said.\nThe second worker, Benjamin Strunk, 34, of Spencer, Ind., was crushed by the block, which at 10 by 10 feet and a foot thick, weighed roughly 10,000 pounds.\nThe fire department, which responded to the scene of the accident at 8:59 a.m., used rescue air bags and spreaders to extricate him from underneath the limestone.\nThe Monroe County Coroner's office pronounced Strunk dead at 10:45 a.m. at the quarry. Monroe County Coroner David Toumey said preliminary findings show Strunk died of massive blunt force trauma to the upper torso. Toxicology reports are pending. \n"It's pretty obvious it was an accident," Toumey said.\nOn Tuesday a relative of Day confirmed his care level at Methodist, and an employee at the hospital confirmed that Day is in the neuroscience critical care unit. The Monroe County Sheriff's Department was not available for comment regarding the accident.\nThe quarry, which is owned by B.G. Hoadley Quarries, Inc., of Bloomington, was not available for comment.\nBefore Friday, the latest death at the quarry occurred June 12, 2000, when Bobby G. Martin, a front-end loader operator with 17 years of mining experience, was crushed between two large limestone blocks. \nMartin, who was 48, was moving the blocks from a reject pile to a different location at the quarry for examination and marking. \nAccording to the Mine Safety and Health Administration's final report, one of the stones Martin was standing between was not positioned securely, and it toppled over, pinning him against the second block.