[CSNBC] A gas explosion that partially collapsed a North Carolina building and set it ablaze Wednesday morning killed one person and injured more than a dozen others, police said.Police cars blocked the streets near the explosion in downtown Durham and a thick, acrid smoke hung over the shopping district created from remodeled tobacco warehouses. At least two ladder trucks sprayed blasts of water into the smoldering rubble nearly two hours after the explosion.
Durham Police Department spokesman Wil Glenn said a contractor boring under a sidewalk hit a 2-inch (5-centimeter) gas line, triggering the explosion. One person was killed and 15 were taken to area hospitals, Glenn said at a news conference. Information on their conditions was not available.
Jim Rogalski, 58, was working in his office across the street from the destroyed building when the explosion blew out the windows. At least four people working in cubicles along those windows suffered deep cuts, bloody head wounds and other injuries, he said.
"There was lots of screaming. ..." Rogalski said. "It was pretty frantic there for a little bit until help showed up."
Rogalski was seated one row away from the windows and wasn’t hurt.
His 5 year old potted Anthurium was completely shredded.