Va. worker impaled by steel bar

A construction worker was seriously injured when he fell from the second story of a Fredericksburg church and was impaled on a piece of steel rebar.

Otoniel Lopez was working at the Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Friday when he fell feet-first about 9 feet onto the upright steel bar. A 4-to-5-foot piece of rebar entered Lopez' body at his left hip and exited through the left side of his chest.

Fredericksburg Fire Department spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said emergency workers found the 30-year-old Lopez moaning but conscious. The crew severed the rebar but left about three feet of it inside Lopez while he was taken to the hospital.

Bishop Paul Loverde of the Arlington Diocese said in a statement that Lopez was in critical condition.
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Information from: The Free Lance-Star, http://www.fredericksburg.com/