A maintenance worker died of apparent electrocution in Bethel on Thursday while fixing a pump at the headquarters of the regional health corporation, authorities say.

Clifford Soots, 51, was working at the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. offices when he was knocked unconscious about 12:55 p.m., according to the state labor safety division and Bethel police. A rescuer suffered a jolt a short time later.

"One of our officers was shocked by some exposed electrical items in that room while they were doing CPR," said Bethel police Lt. Andre Achee.

A compliance officer for the state Division of Labor Standards and Safety was in Bethel on Friday investigating the death, said division director Grey Mitchell. The investigator will be looking to see if proper work safety rules were being followed prior to the accident, he said.

Soots was working in a utility room on a pump -- Mitchell couldn't say what kind -- at the time.

The health corporation offices are across the street from the Bethel hospital, where Soots was carried by ambulance and pronounced dead at 1:29 p.m., Achee said. The body has been flown to Anchorage for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

No foul play is suspected, police said.

The health corporation provides medical care to roughly 50 communities in Southwest Alaska.

"The entire YKHC family and myself wish to convey our sincerest condolences and deepest sympathies to the family," corporation president Gene Peltola said in a prepared statement.

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