NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Five employees at an Amoco Chemical plant were killed and at least 29 others injured in a propylene gas explosion felt up to 15 miles away. State police, fearing more explosions, evacuated hundreds of nearby residents and said as many as six people may be missing.
Fires, shooting flames 50 to 70 feet, raged for almost 11 hours before being brought under control at 5:40 a.m. by firefighters from Deleware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Several hundred residents were evacuated from their homes in surrounding towns because authorities feared a second explosion and possible leaks of toxic fumes. At least 125 people spent the night in a Wilmington high school.
The identities of the victims were not immediately released.
Two of the 29 injured, George Arrington, 49, and Robert Duval, 42, both of New Castle, were listed in critical condition today at Crozier-Chester Medical Center in Chester, Pa.
The explosion Tuesday evening occurred while propylene, a colorless gas obtained in refining petroleum, was being unloaded from railroad tank cars. About 35 employees were at the Amoco plant at the time.
'It was like a little bang, then a hiss and then everything, everything went up,' said employee Robert Arnold, 33. He said it appeared a welding torch ignited the 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. Windows of buildings 2 miles away were blown out.
State Police Cpl. Barry Beck said the explosion-sparked fire started in the processing area, spread to the finishing area and set several fires north of the plant in a marsh near Dobbinsville.
Margaret Davis, 56, whose Dobbinsville house faces the plant, said she had dozed off in her living room, 'Then, Jesus, what a boom. 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.'
Dick Schneider, owner of a food market 2 miles away said there was massive explosion, followed by a huge concussion that blew out the store's front windows.
'Thank God that they didn't blow in, they blew out,' said Schneider. 'Nobody in the store was hurt at all.'
Most of those Amoco employees hurt by the explosion and fires were treated at the Delaware division of the Wilmington Medical Center for injuries ranging from cuts to burns.
