© Helen H. Richardson, The Denver PostThe Halliburton fracking site where one person was killed and two others were injured Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014.
Mead - One worker was killed and two were seriously injured Thursday when a frozen, high pressure water line ruptured at a Weld County oil well site.
The workers were trying to thaw the line when the accident occurred, officials said.
The Anadarko Petroleum Corp. well was being hydraulically fractured, or fracked, by the Halliburton Co. and the workers were Halliburton employees.
Anadarko said it was suspending all fracking operations in the area pending a review of the accident.
The area has been the scene of drilling since at least 1979, but this year Anadarko has sunk at least nine, deep horizontal wells, according to state records.
Each of those wells has to be fracked by pumping a mixture of water, sand and trace chemicals into the well at high pressure to crack rock and release oil.
Thomas Sedlmayr, 48, was airlifted to Denver Health and Grant Casey, 28, was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. The name of the dead worker has not been released.
"This is a very difficult time for all of us at Halliburton, and we are working with local authorities as they look into the details of this incident," Halliburton said in a statement.
"Out of respect for the families' privacy, we are not releasing any additional information at this time," Houston-based Halliburton said.
Weld County Sheriff's Office deputies are investigating the accident.
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