Connecticut Police Retract Statement That 2 Died In Explosion
An explosion at an under-construction power plant rocked central Connecticut Sunday, causing some deaths and injuring at least 11 people, officials said.
Residents up to 20 miles away reported hearing the blast about 11:30 a.m. at the Kleen Power Plant in Middletown, a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut. Middletown police Sgt. Chuck Jacobucci initially said two people had been killed, but later told CNN he had misinterpreted something heard on a police radio.
Other officials including Middletown Sebastian Giuliano said there were fatalities, but did not give a number.
The plant was under construction and had not yet opened, Middletown Officer Kevin White told CNN. It was set to go online later this year, he said, and was in a "testing phase."
About 50 people, most of them construction workers, were working on the site at the time, said Al Santostefano, deputy fire marshal. Workers were apparently purging a natural gas pipeline when the blast occurred, officials said.
"The mayor has been assured that this is an industrial accident," Giuliano said in a statement. There is no public health threat, he said, and terrorism is not suspected.
Middlesex Hospital in Middletown said it received 11 patients from the explosion. Of those, one was sent to a hospital in Hartford, said spokesman R. Brian Albert. Two others were treated for minor injuries and released, and the remaining eight were being evaluated.
The patients' injuries included extremity or pelvic fractures, said emergency room physician Dr. Jonathan Bankoff. Some people reported being thrown 30 or 40 feet, he said.
A center was being set up at Middletown's City Hall for family members of plant workers, Albert said.
About 100 firefighters were on scene along with state police dogs, and a search-and-recovery effort was under way, said Santostefano. The searchers were dismantling the building piece by piece, he said. He did not know how long the search would take.
People up to 20 miles away reported hearing or feeling the blast.
"It felt like the house was shaking," Peter Moore, who lives about 10 miles away in Durham, told CNN. He said he thought at first there had been a traffic accident on his street or there was a problem with his house. "It was really big," he said.
Moore said his mother, who lives in Woodbridge, about 20 miles away from the plant, also said she heard the explosion, and said it "sounded like someone pounded on the back door a couple of times."
"It was almost like an earthquake," nearby resident Lynn Townsend told CNN affiliate WTNH. She said she heard the explosion and went outside to see "a very big, bright orange flame" between the plant's two smokestacks, and immediately dialed 911.
"It really shook the house," she said. "Everybody was scared. The kids started to cry."
Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance told WTNH his agency has received "an immense amount of inquiries" from residents who heard or felt the explosion.
WTNH.com coverage of Middletown explosion
The site is a 620-megawatt gas-fired power plant, according to plant manager Gordon Holk.
The Department of Homeland Security told CNN it was aware of the explosion and was monitoring the situation.
Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell was on her way to the scene Sunday afternoon, her office said, and had spoken with Middletown city officials.
Rell activated the state Emergency Operations Center in Hartford, which was being staffed by the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Department of Public Health, the National Guard and the state police, the governor's office said in a statement. Rell also activated an Urban Search and Rescue Team, according to the statement.
Middlesex Hospital activated its disaster response plan after the explosion, Albert said. As of Sunday afternoon, the hospital was in a "disaster response standby mode," and was not calling in additional staff, he told reporters.
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Sources: CNN, MSNBC, Google Maps
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