‘Mass casualties’ feared in US power plant blast

[LRE]

* Locals say explosion took place during test of plant’s power generating systems

NEW YORK: A huge explosion on Sunday ripped through a US power plant being built in Connecticut amid reports up to 50 people may have died, said emergency officials, as a rescue operation swung into place.

The blast at the gas-fired plant in Middletown – home to 40,000 people on the Connecticut River—sent flames and black smoke billowing into the sky and shook houses several miles away, said witnesses. A local resident told the Hartford Courant that the explosion took place during a test of the plant’s power generating systems.

As helicopters, ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene and a massive search and rescue operation was launched, officials were reluctant to say how many might have died, but a large number of fatalities was feared.

“The reports vary from a few, several to possibly as many as 50 dead,” Brian Albert from the Middlesex hospital, which was treating several of those injured in the blast at the Kleen Energy plant, told AFP.

“They are in the process of search and rescue,” said Albert, adding that the Middlesex hospital was treating six patients and a seventh had been transferred to the nearby Hartford hospital, which confirmed it was also handling injured.

CNN reported at least two fatalities, but officials would not immediately confirm the number of casualties at the plant.

One witness told the local Hartford Courant newspaper, “There are bodies everywhere.” Other witnesses suggested several victims could still lie buried under the rubble.

“There was a massive explosion, there are multiple injuries and possible fatalities,” Middletown police spokesman George Yepes told AFP.

A town fire official in Connecticut said fewer than 50 people had been injured in the explosion. agencies


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