Power plant explosion kills 5 in Connecticut
PAT EATON-ROBB and JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN | Associated PressMIDDLETOWN, Conn. –
An explosion that sounded like a sonic boom blew out walls of an unfinished power plant and set off a fire during a test of natural gas lines Sunday, killing at least five workers, injuring a dozen or more and leaving crews picking through debris for more possible victims.
At least 12 people were injured in the explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, about 20 miles south of Hartford. Crews with dogs were still searching the rubble as darkness fell over the plant, on a wooded hill along the Connecticut River.
It wasn’t clear how many people, if any, were still buried. Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano told The Associated Press that 50 to 60 people were in the area at the time of the explosion, but authorities said multiple contractors were working on the project, making it difficult to pinpoint how many people were missing.
“I think a majority of them did survive,” Santostefano said. “Most of them did walk away.”
The explosion left huge pieces of metal that once encased the plant peeling off its sides. A large swath of the structure was blackened and surrounded by debris, but the building, its roof and its two smokestacks were still standing. Rescue crews had set up several tents alongside the site.
The explosion happened about 11:15 a.m., Santostefano said. Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, who heard the blast, called it a gas explosion but said the exact cause wasn’t clear.
“It felt almost like a sonic boom,” Giuliano said at an evening news conference.
The search was focusing in part on who was at the plant at the time of the explosion. Giuliano said 100 to 200 workers would have been there on a typical weekday.
“They’re trying to figure out who was on the job today and where are they now,” Giuliano said.
The 620-megawatt plant, which was almost complete, is being built to produce energy primarily using natural gas. Santostefano said workers for the construction company, O&G Industries, were purging the gas lines, a procedure he called a “blow-down,” when the explosion occurred.
The blast blew out the sheet metal that covers the building’s sides.
Officials had not released the conditions of the injured people by Sunday evening, although they said at least a dozen people had injuries ranging from minor to very serious.
The thundering blast shook houses for miles.
“I felt the house shake, I thought a tree fell on the house,” Middletown resident Steve Clark said.
Barrett Robbins-Pianka, who lives about a mile away and has monitored the project for years, said she was running outside and heard what she called “a tremendous boom.”
Work on the plant was 95 percent complete, the mayor said. Kleen Energy Systems LLC began construction on it in February 2008. It had signed a capacity deal with Connecticut Light and Power for the electricity produced by the plant, which was scheduled to be completed by mid-2010.
The company is run by president and former Middletown City Council member William Corvo. A message left at Corvo’s home was not immediately returned. Calls to Gordon Holk, general manager of Power Plant Management Services, which has a contract to manage the plant, weren’t immediately returned.
Energy Investors Funds, a private equity fund that indirectly owns a majority share in the power plant, said it is cooperating with authorities investigating the explosion.