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Inquest deliberations to enter third day

Deliberations by the jury for the coroner's inquest into a fatal sawmill explosion will continue today, B.C. Coroners Service spokeswoman Barb McLintock said. Robert Luggi, 45, and Carl Charlie, 42, died in the Jan.

Deliberations by the jury for the coroner's inquest into a fatal sawmill explosion will continue today, B.C. Coroners Service spokeswoman Barb McLintock said.

Robert Luggi, 45, and Carl Charlie, 42, died in the Jan. 20, 2012 blast that destroyed Babine Forest Products outside Burns Lake and left 19 other employees with serious injuries, many of them suffering severe burns.

The five-man, two-woman jury, which heard testimony from nearly 50 witnesses over two-and-a-half weeks during an inquest held in the community 225 kilometres west of Prince George, began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon and spent all of Thursday at the task.

The jury must decide whether the deaths were natural or the result of either accident, suicide, homicide or undetermined.

Homicide is defined as death due to injury intentionally inflicted by action of another person but in the context of an inquest is a neutral term that does not imply fault or blame.

The jury can also issue recommendations to prevent similar incidents in the future.

In May, the jury for the coroner's inquest into the fatal April 23, 2012 explosion at Lakeland Mills in Burns Lake issued 33 recommendations. They also found the deaths of Glenn Roche, 46, and Alan Little, 43, were accidents.