Detroit gasline blast kills worker

DETROIT, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A gas line explosion killed a contractor on Detroit's Zug Island, an uninhabited industrial property in the Detroit River.

Five employees of RJ Stacey company were working on the three-foot diameter pipe which feeds the blast furnaces of the U.S. Steel Great Lakes Works plant Saturday afternoon, when it exploded, destroying up to 400 feet of pipe in a blast that could be heard miles away, The Detroit News reported.

Firefighters from Detroit and nearby River Rouge and Ecorse were dispatched to put out the flames, which were visible from shore.

The steel company said it will transport liquid steel on hand to a nearby plant to be processed.