N.Y. company indicted in Big Dig death

BOSTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A New York company was indicted Wednesday on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman who died when a tunnel ceiling collapsed in Boston last summer.

Power Fasteners Inc. of Brewster, N.Y., provided the epoxy used to secure bolts that Big Dig construction workers used to suspend the concrete ceiling from the tunnel roof, The Boston Globe said Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said last month that the fast-drying epoxy did not have the long-term strength needed to hold up the ceiling. The NTSB called for the company to revise the packaging to state explicitly that it was approved for "short-term loads" only.

"We are stunned, beyond belief," company President Jeffrey Powers said in a statement. "At no time did anyone ever tell Powers, and Powers never had reason to believe, that its Fast Set product was used in the tunnel ceiling."

Special Assistant Attorney General Paul Ware said Powers was "more than a little asleep at the switch" when it failed to identify the problem after several of the anchors holding the ceiling up were found to be pulling out, the newspaper said.