NEW CASTLE, Del. -- An explosion, apparently of propylene gas, and a resulting fire at an Amoco Chemical Co. plant killed four employees Tuesday, injured at legast 25 others and forced several hundred nearby residents to flee, police said.
An Amoco employee said it appears several tanks of propylene, a colorless gas obtaining in refining petroleum, were ignited by a welding torch.
'It was like a little bang, then a hiss and then everything. Everything went up,' said plant employee Robert Arnold, 33. He said some employees were unloading the propylene from tank cars when the explosion occurred.
Margaret Davis, 56, whose Dobbinsville house faces the plant, said she was sitting in her living room when she dozed off.
'Then, Jesus, what a boom,' she said. 'I thought the whole house was gone. I ran out the door and it (the Amoco plant) was fully engulfed in flames. A big black cloud of smoke was over it.'
The threat of a second explosion at the Amoco plant and possible leaks of toxic fumes forced police to evacuate nearby residents from Dobbinsville, and Washington Park, Shawtown, and West Park. The evacuees went to the William Penn High School in Wilmington.
About 35 employees were at the Amoco plant when the explosion occurred about 6:30 p.m. EDT. The resulting fire was still burning out of control at midnight.
Cpl. Barry Beck, of the Delaware State Police, said the explosion occurred in the processing area, spread to the finishing area of the plant and ignited several fires north of the plant in a marsh near Dobbinsville.
A spokesman at the Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center, which is treating most of the victims, said the injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to burns.
'We have called our disaster off at the moment,' spokesman Max Elder said. 'Right now it's quiet. They are still fighting the fire, but there are no more injured being brought in at this time.'
Two people, George Arrington, 49, and Robert Duval, 42, both of New Castle, were taken to Crozier-Chester Medical Center, in Chester, Pa., where they were listed in critical condition. Arrington had serious injuries to the head, chest and arms and Duval was severely burned, hospital spokesman Kenneth Dale said.
Red Cross spokesman Ralph Body said at least 125 residents living near the plant had been evacuated to William Penn High School.
'They are mostly worried with trying to get people notified, relatives and that kind of thing,' Body said. 'There's no real hysteria. Everybody really seems to be realizing what's going on. Most of the people were not actually associated with the fire itself.'
But he said some people have been 'in a little bit of a panic trying to find where their injured relatives have gone.'
Firefighters from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland battled the blaze, and officials were concerned about the possibility of another explosion as well as the release of toxic gas.
Witnesses said the shock from the blast could be felt in downtown Wilmington and as far north as Claymont near the Pennsylvania border, about 15 miles away.
'I didn't know what it was at all,' said Dick Schneider, owner of a food market about two miles from the plant. 'I saw the black cloud and the flames were shooting very, very high in the air. There was a massive explosion and there was a huge concussion that followed it, and it blew out all the windows in the front of my store.
'Thank God that they didn't blow in, they blew out,' Schneider said. 'Nobody in the store was hurt at all.'
Authorities said they did not know what caused the explosion. There were reports of stores in a nearby shopping center and private homes being damaged by the blast.
Gov. Pierre du Pont IV and other top officials were briefed on the situation.
