Children of worker who died following TECO power plant accident speak out

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – An accident involving molten slag claimed the lives of two workers and sent four others to the hospital June 29.

Now, two more workers have died and two others remain in the hospital.

Veteran worker Frank Jones passed away from his injuries Saturday night. He leaves behind a wife and a family that counted on him.

“It’s been hard, but I know my dad is in a better place,” said Monique Jones. “He wasn’t just our dad, he was like a community dad. Everybody went to my dad for everything. Like, my dad took care of so Florida many households, helped so Florida many people.”

Shawnta Reynolds is the oldest child. She knew he father had a dangerous job.

“He tells us all the time the risks and just looking at the places he worked, you can see it’s a dangerous job and my dad has done this for 30 years,” she said. “He’s very good at what he does.”

Reynolds said so far, TECO hasn’t told them anything about the accident that took her father’s life.

“I haven’t heard anything from anybody,” she said. “Not an apology, not anything.”

When told TECO’s CEO put out a YouTube message to the families, she was shocked.

Reynolds said the YouTube video is meaningless to her.

“It’s not directed to me. You putting it out there to get views on YouTube.”

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