FIRTH, Neb. — A Nebraska power utility worker is recovering from surgery after being impaled by a 2-foot-long steel rod while on the job near Firth, authorities said.

The incident happened Thursday afternoon while Nebraska Public Power District worker Roger Kempf, 46, and a coworker were clearing brush from underneath power lines, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

The coworker was operating a skid loader with a front-mounted disk grinder when it struck a piece of rebar from an electric fence post concealed in the brush, Chief Deputy Todd Duncan said. Duncans said the disk grinder launched the steel post about 60 yards at high speed, impaling Kempf in the lower back.

Kempf was rushed to a Lincoln hospital, where he had surgery to remove the rebar.

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