Cause of USC Laboratory Blast Still Unknown
A chemical explosion that badly burned two USC researchers involved two highly flammable substances--hydrogen and ethyl alcohol, according to a spokesman for the school, but investigators still did not know what sparked the blast Wednesday afternoon.
Also not determined was what experiment was being conducted when the blast occured in a fourth-floor laboratory at the John Stauffer Pharmaceutical Sciences Center in Lincoln Heights, where the two men were working alone.
USC spokesman Richard Cox identified the injured men as Seid Mirsadeghi, 30, a post-doctoral fellow in the School of Pharmacy, and Tan Tran, 22, a laboratory technician.
Mirsadeghi, burned over most of his body, was transferred Thursday from USC Medical Center to Sherman Oaks Community Hospital, where he remained in critical condition.
Tran, burned over 30% of his body, was in serious, but stable condition at Torrance Memorial Hospital.
The explosion caused $2,000 in damage.
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