Trinity, NC, June 12, 2006--A maintenance worker who was badly burned in an explosion at a Future Foam manufacturing facility has died of his injuries, two weeks after the blast.
Future Foam manufactures foam for use in carpet cushion, furniture, bedding and other uses.
Ricky Dale Hardin had been unconscious and in critical condition since shortly after he was injured May 23. He died Wednesday at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, his family said.
Hardin and two other men were hurt by the explosion and fire that authorities said was ignited by a welding torch at the Future Foam Inc., factory near downtown High Point.
Hardin was conscious immediately after the accident, his wife, Nancy, said.
"He walked out of that plant and got somebody to call me -- just to tell me that he loved me," she said. "A day didn't go by that he didn't tell me that."
The couple had two sons aged 14 and 11. A funeral was held Friday in Trinity, where the family lived. Hardin was to be buried in his hometown of Toler, Ky.
Hardin, 49, had spent seven years working in maintenance
