FLORIDA: At least seven persons were injured in a series of gas explosions at a LP tank exchange plant in Lake County, Florida.
The series of explosions began at about 10:30 pm local time. According to the Orlando Sentinel, witnesses compared the sound to fireworks or loud shotgun fire.
Apparently the initial blasts completely destroyed the two large LP storage tanks, which the plant used to refill smaller backyard tanks.
“I heard a loud bomb sound,” said Lisa Garner, who lives nearby in the Tavares subdivision of Lakeside. “I thought somebody ran into my house.”
Lt. John Herrell, a Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said that a night shift crew of 24 to 26 people was at the plant when the explosions started.
Herrell said that all of them have been accounted for, although there is slight chance that somebody was present at the facility without the management knowing about it.
Seven crew members injured in the incident have been transported to hospital while two or three others sought out medical treatment on their own accord. The others escaped the explosions unharmed, Herrell said.
