Three killed in fall from US television tower

Director for engineering at Iowa Public Television, said the crew was replacing strobe lights when the accident happened.

Three workers fell 1,100 feet from a television tower and died, officials said.

HT Image

Bill Hayes, director for engineering at Iowa Public Television, said the crew was replacing strobe lights when the accident happened.

"They were up fairly high when something went wrong and all three members of the crew fell," Hayes said. "We don't know what the actual cause was."

He said a fourth member of the crew was working on the ground, operating a winch, hoisting parts to the crew.

"We can only assume that the safety equipment failed," said Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker.

The men -- ages 57, 27 and 19 -- were pronounced dead at the scene. They worked for Deter Tower Service, of Grimes. Their names weren't immediately released.

A woman answering the phone at Deters said no one was available to talk about the accident. She declined further comment.