1 dead, 3 injured while working on power lines in Ark.

Associated Press

PARIS, Ark.-- Officials say one man is dead and three others are recovering from injuries after being electrocuted while working on damaged power lines in Logan County.

Officials told Fort Smith television station KFSM that helicopters took 2 of the three injured men to Little Rock hospitals for treatment. The station said a third injured man was not seriously hurt, but went to a hospital to be checked out.

Neighbors said they heard a loud boom as the men were electrocuted.

The men worked for C and N Electric, an Ozark company hired by the city of Paris to fix power lines after a series of thunderstorms and strong winds ran through the state Sunday.

Gil Broyles, a spokesman for Oklahoma Gas and Electric, told The Associated Press the men were likely working where a tree limb had fallen across power lines. Broyles says the men were working on a line beneath another line that was live and when the branch whipped free, the two lines came in contact.