Second man dies from Guthrie explosion

A second man has died from injuries sustained in an explosion last week in Guthrie.

Twenty-one-year-old Alex Wix of Westmoreland, Tennessee died Monday afternoon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Wix was reported to be an organ donor and will be saving four lives through those donations.

He was the driver of the vacuum truck waste hauler from Onsite Environmental that was removing an alkaline lye solution for a holding tank at the Quick Turn Anodizing facility on Second Street in Guthrie shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday of last week.

Near the end of that process, what was described as white smoke or steam was seen coming from the area of the truck which was parked directly in front of the building and within a few minutes, the tank containing approximately 300 gallons of the solution catastrophically failed at its end cap seam.

The end cap flew approximately 125 feet to the north landing in a vacant lot and the remainder of the tank went through the exterior of the building, through an interior partition and hit a support beam before finally coming to a stop about 100 feet away, just short of exiting the rear of the building.

Officials said Wix had been standing near the truck and was thrown into the vacant lot.

The blast also killed 34-year old Bryan Bonilla of Clarksville who was inside the building at the time, sent two people to local hospitals and sent Benn Andrew Stahl to Vanderbilt. Stahl was released from the hospital on Saturday night and is recovering in Trenton.

The incident remains under investigation by several local and state agencies.