Ohio explosion caused by cut gas line thought to be turned off, investigators say
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A crew working in the basement of an Ohio building deliberately cut a gas line, unaware it was pressurized before a deadly explosion this week, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
NTSB board member Tom Chapman said preliminary investigation shows workers were in the basement clearing pipes and other aging infrastructure and debris from the basement and vault room — which extends beneath the sidewalk next to the building — in anticipation of a city project that must be completed. the area and replace the sidewalks. A crew of five people and a supervisor had been on site that day, but only four of the workers were present when it happened, he said.
He said the workers didn’t smell any gas before they started cutting the pipe and knew there was a problem the third time they cut.
At that point, workers pulled the fire alarm and warned residents and bank employees to evacuate. Chapman said the explosion happened six minutes later. Investigators will try to determine why the leadership was under pressure.
The explosion Tuesday afternoon blew away much of the ground floor of Realty Tower, killing a bank employee and injuring several others. It collapsed and collapsed part of the ground floor in the basement sent the facade on the other side of the street. Bricks, glass and other debris littered the sidewalk outside the 13-story building, which had a Chase Bank branch at street level and apartments on the upper floors.
Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said in a news release Friday that the city had contracted with a construction company called GreenHeart to handle the relocation of private utilities in the basement of the Realty Tower. He said “there is no evidence” that cutting the gas line cited by the NTSB was necessary to complete that work.
Greenheart did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
The bank employee, 27-year-old Akil Drake, was seen in the building moments before the explosion, police said. Firefighters rescued others as they evacuated the building.
Seven injured people were taken to a Youngstown hospital. One woman remained in hospital in critical condition on Thursday, but her name and further details of her injuries have not been released. Three others were in stable condition and the other three were released.