A freak accident on Tuesday claimed the life of a Purchase Line High School student who lived in neighboring Clearfield County.
15-year-old Thane Lucas of Mahaffey was burning trash in a burn barrel in his backyard along Smay Lane in Bell Township. State police say he was putting a bag into the barrel when something in the garbage exploded, sending a piece of debris flying into Lucas’s neck, causing a severe loss of blood. Lucas was flown to UPMC Altoona, where he later died.
Lucas was a junior firefighter with the Mahaffey Volunteer Fire Company.
Police have not said what it was that exploded, but it most likely was a pressurized container of some sort. The death has been ruled to be accidental.
