BREMERTON, Wash., Aug. 19 (UPI) — A gas leak explosion at a Motel 6 in a Seattle, Wash., suburb caused a partial building collapse and injured at least one person as three others remain missing.
The explosion in the Bremerton suburb was so severe it blew firefighters who were on the scene about 20 feet back. Hotel employees reported a gas leak after detecting a natural gas smell at 7:54 p.m. local time and people began to evacuate. The explosion happened at 8:24 p.m.
A Cascade Gas company employee checking on the leak before the explosion was critically hurt with second- and third-degree burns. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Cascade Gas employee critically injured tonight,” Bremerton Police Department said in a statement.
Bremertown is a town of about 39,000 people that’s about a one-hour ferry ride away from Seattle.
“The shaking was bad enough that the neighbors thought a tree fell on their house,” Alice Adams, a nearby resident, told NBC News. “Both the sound and force made it almost instantly obvious that it was an explosion and not something smaller like a firework explosion or gunshot.”
Three people who were believed to have stayed at the hotel are still missing, according John Hawkins of the Bremerton Fire Department.
“We’re certainly hoping and praying that everybody did get evacuated successfully, but we can’t confirm for sure yet that that occurred,” Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan said.
