Official: No One Trapped in Conn. Power Plant Rubble

Everyone accounted for after explosion
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 8, 2010 12:53 PM CST
Official: No One Trapped in Conn. Power Plant Rubble
Emergency personnel work at the site of the Kleen Energy plant, seen in this aerial photo, after an explosion in Middletown, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010.    (Jessica Hill)

The deputy fire marshal of Middletown Conn., where a power plant explosion killed five people yesterday, says that no one is believed buried in the rubble, meaning the death toll from the blast will likely stand at five. The town's mayor also released a statement saying that everyone assigned to work in the Kleen Energy Systems plant has been accounted for.

There have been no recovery efforts today because the section that exploded was deemed too unsafe to search, though welders and other workers were trying to stabilize it. The exact cause of the blast remains under investigation, though authorities now know that it occurred while workers were clearing gas lines of air. "There's still a lot of unanswered questions," said a representative of a local Plumbers and Pipelifters union. "I lost a couple of good friends up there." (More Kleen Energy stories.)

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