An employee of the Mitchell-based Pathfinder Irrigation District was killed Friday afternoon when he fell into a ditch where he was burning weeds.

Deputy Scotts Bluff County Coroner Jeremy Anderson says 67-year-old Llewellyn Mattern of Scottsbluff suffered deep tissue burns over 75% of his body.

Mattern was taken to Regional West Medical Center by ambulance, but was pronounced dead at the hospital. An autopsy is planned early in the week.

Anderson says ditch crew members reported that Mattern slipped down the ditch embankment and fell an estimated eleven feet into the fire. Co-workers were not able to rescue him until they extinguished the fire.

The accident occurred around 2 p.m. about 4-miles northeast of Mitchell on Scotts Bluff County Road 17, just north of County Road B.