GARY, Ind. (AP) — Company officials say a 28-year-old man was killed when he was struck in the head by falling material at the U.S. Steel Gary Works steelmaking shop.

U.S. Steel Corp. spokesman John Armstrong said Jeremy Simpson of Hobart was taken to Northlake Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead Tuesday morning.

Simpson was spraying refractory material inside a large mixing vessel when some of the material fell about 2 a.m.

Refractory is a heat-resistant, protective coating used in blast furnaces, vessels and steelmaking shops. Simpson was an employee of Bisco Refractory, Inc.

Posted 12/12/2007.