Indiana Worker Dies at Steel Plant

April 30, 2009

A northern Indiana man has died in an accident at a steel plant.

Authorities say 58-year-old Cory G. Cochlin of Columbia City died at Steel Dynamics Inc. when he was run over by a large vehicle.

Whitley County Coroner Scott Smith says an autopsy showed that Cochlin died of massive blunt-force trauma at the plant about 20 miles west of Fort Wayne.

Cochlin worked for a company that hauls slag — a byproduct of smelting — from the steel plant.

His death is the first at Steel Dynamics’ Columbia City plant since December 2006, when a worker died when two 3-ton steel beams fell on his chest.