Deadly blast rocks small US town

Deadly blast rocks small US town

By all accounts it was a huge explosion … ripping through part of the Kleen Energy Systems power plant at Middletown Connecticut 188km northeast of New York City.
 
It was heard at least 16km away.
 
Dozens of people telephoned emergency services to report a large explosion and earthquake-like tremors.
 
Lynn Townsend was among the first to get through:
 
"It really shook the house and everybody was scared and the kids started to cry because they didn't know if the house was going to be on fire. Immediately I went to call 9-1-1 and I was the first call in to let them know that the power plant, that there was a loud explosion. I mean, it was a very scary thought and it was almost like an earthquake."
 
It was so powerful that portions of a building were completely blown away … others were turned to rubble.
 
At a news conference a few hours after the explosion it was left to the mayor of Middletown, Sebastian Giuliano, to voice what everyone else had been wondering about:
 
"It was a gas explosion, terrorism has been ruled out," he said.

Meanwhile, an unnamed witness broke down in tears as he explained what he knew:

"They were working, they were testing. I just heard there was a gas explosion. I'm getting all kinds of phone calls from union brothers. It's horrible, man. We've got some people up there got little kids at home and we lost them."
 
As rescue workers picked their way through the debris, the governor of Connecticut authorised the state's urban search and rescue team to go into the site to help find victims.
 
There were 50 workers inside the building at the time of the blast and Dr Jonathan Bankoff, from nearby Middlesex Hospital, where victims were taken, said the injured were lucky to be alive:
 
"These were mostly blast and then secondary blast injuries so the initial injury from the explosion followed by being thrown, you know, upwards of 30 or 40 feet on to whatever surface they may have landed on ... the majority of the patients are telling that story."
 
The workers had been testing gas pipes when the explosion occurred.
 
The 620 megawatt plant on the Connecticut River was being built to produce energy primarily using natural gas.
 
Construction had begun in early 2008 and the plant was scheduled to be on line within six months - the project completed by November.
 
Now families in the area mourn their loved ones who were working on a Sunday, trying to finish the job on time.