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Teen suffers burns in gas can explosion

by The Associated Press
| April 18, 2013 10:00 PM

LIBBY (AP) — Lincoln County officials say a 17-year-old Libby boy is hospitalized in Seattle for treatment of burns suffered when a gas can exploded.

Sheriff Roby Bowe said dispatchers received a call at about 8:20 p.m. Wednesday reporting an explosion south of Libby had injured a boy.

Responding officers found the boy had accidentally exposed a can of gasoline to flames in a small fire pit while doing yard cleanup. The gas can exploded and splashed burning fuel on the boy, causing severe burns.

Nearby family and friends helped the boy, who was initially taken to St. John’s Hospital in Libby via Libby Volunteer Ambulance. Bowe says the boy was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle shortly before 10 p.m.

His condition was unknown.