A contractor has died while working in Negaunee Township, officials said.

Officers were dispatched for a "confined space rescue" around 11 a.m. Friday inside a penstock of the Hoist Powerhouse at the Upper Peninsula Power Company, the Marquette County Sheriff's Office said.

Police said two contractors were applying a coating inside when they learned the conditions were unsafe and started moving toward the access hatch.

One of the contractors exited the access hatch and the other slid around 85 feet down the inclined pipe/penstock, according to authorities.

The first contractor was transported to a medical facility and listed in stable condition. The second contractor needed to be extracted from inside the penstock but was later pronounced dead at the scene.

The Upper Peninsula Power C

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