More than a dozen people were injured Friday inan explosion at a Beechcraft aircraft manufacturing plantin Kansas that caused part of a building to collapse, according to officials.
A3-inch nitrogen line ruptured, causing the 8 am explosionat the Wichita plant, Sedgwick County fire chief Daniel Wegner said during a morning news conference.
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John Gallagher, the county’s emergency services director, said people were taken to nearby hospitals and four were treated at the scene. No one was killed, and James Fromme, a chief for the Wichita Fire Department, said there were no reports of anyone trapped in the building.
“The plant closed or shut down for the holiday season so the numbers that would have been here, were not, so it was a skeleton crew, ”Wegner said.
The Wesley Medical Center said Friday that it had treated five patients from the explosion. Two were treated and released with minor injuries and the other three were admitted in stable condition, spokesman Dave Stewart said.
Stephanie Harder, a spokeswoman for Beechcraft’s parent company, Textron Aviation, said the building that partially collapsed houses composite manufacturing and experimental aircraft operations.
“Our primary concern is obviously for all of the employees and contractors and visitors on site during this incident,” Harder said. “Difficult day. Difficult news,” she added.
Officials are investigating the explosion and monitoring for any residual effects.
******************************** Elisha Fieldstadt
Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
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