Pipe explosion kills man, 27

Halfway through a four-year plumbing apprenticeship program, John Thomas Dillon IV had found his calling.

“He loved working as a plumber,” said his employer, Clem Winke. “We had just promoted him 45 days ago. He got his own van to do service calls.”

Dillon died Friday at a construction site in West Boynton when an air bag in an underground pipe exploded at the Sun Valley East development in the 9700 block of Pavarotti Terrace, north of Boynton Beach Boulevard, according to the Palm Beach Sheriff ’s Office. Dillon, of Fort Lauderdale, was 27. “He was a really good guy,” said Winke, owner of Plumbing Experts, Inc., of Delray Beach. “Everyone wanted to work with him because he had such a positive attitude.”

The job he was working Friday involved stopping a water leak from a broken pipe that had caused a sinkhole in one of the development’s main roads, Winke said. The air bag had been inserted into the pipe to block the flow of water, he said.

The investigation into the incident is continuing.

Dillon