FORT WORTH, Texas -- A natural gas explosion Wednesday tore through an abandoned downtown auto dealership, injuring at least 26 people and shaking the downtown business district.
A spokeswoman at John Peter Smith Hospital said 10 people, including a 2-year-old boy, were taken to the hospital. Most of the injured were hit by flying glass, and hospital officials said the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
Eight people were treated and released from Harris Hospital, a spokesman said. Another four, including two Lone Star Gas company workers, were treated and released from St. Joseph's Hospital and at least four were treated by paramedics at the scene.
The injured included passengers on a city bus and occupants of two cars severely damaged by the explosion.
The injured gas company workers, who were in a manhole trying to cut off the gas when the explosion and three-alarm fire occurred, were blown 10 to 20 feet in the air, witnesses said.
'I felt a lot of pressure,' said Ronald Buck, a Lone Star Gas Co. worker, who was blown out of the manhole. 'It was awesome. The explosion was under my feet. The blast was so strong, it was pushing me.
'I scrambled for shelter under the bridge so the debris wouldn't come down on me.'
Buck and a coworker were slightly injured.
Charlie McCafferty, a fire department spokesman, said Conatser L.D. Contractors was digging under a city contract to move a water line when they hit the line at about 9 a.m. in front of the dealership.
'I understand they didn't have permits and did not notify Lone Star Gas they were going to be digging,' McCafferty said.
'Somehow, the gas got into the building and apparently flames from a pilot light on a heater blew up,' said Donald C. Sewall, Texas Railroad Commission investigator.
The 9:55 a.m. explosion at the Frank Kent Cadillac building on Interstate 30 on the southern edge of downtown was heard 10 miles away. Pictures swayed on walls in buildings six blocks away and 40 windows were blown out of the Hilton Hotel across the freeway.
Authorities closed the major east-west freeway through downtown Fort Worth for more than three hours because of debris and smoke from the fire that continued to smoulder Wednesday afternoon.
Rebecca Rushing, secretary to the president of Frank Kent Cadillac, said the owner of a furniture store across the street from the explosion site called the dealership's new location and said, ''Ma'am, I thought the end of the world had come. I can tell you your building is gone.''
'We had about 60 brand news cars stored down there,' she said. 'We used it (the abandoned building) for storage.'
The company estimated the value of the cars at $1.5 million.