Report: Fatal burns killed 3 in New Mexico tank explosion

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) – An autopsy report says the three people who were killed in a tank battery explosion near Carlsbad last year died of fatal burns.

The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports documents by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator released this week say the surface area of the bodies were 100-percent charred, exposing muscle, bones and internal organs.

Edgar Garcia, James Hernandez and Ronald Berheimer, all from Texas, died in a battery tank explosion near Carlsbad in far southeastern New Mexico in September 2017.

The report says the men were part of a welding team hired to “work on an oil tank.”

All three deaths were officially labeled accidental.

The explosion occurred on property leased by Texas-based Caza Operating LLC.