YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A crew working in the basement area of an Ohio building intentionally cut a gas line not knowing it was pressurized before a deadly explosion this week, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
NTSB board member Tom Chapman said workers were in the basement to clear out piping and other outdated infrastructure. He said workers smelled no gas before they started cutting the pipe and knew there was a problem when they made the third cut.
At that point, workers pulled the fire alarm and alerted residents and bank employees to evacuate. Chapman said the explosion happened six minutes after that cut. Investigators will try to determine why the pipe was pressurized.
The explosion Tuesday afternoon blew out much of the ground floor of Realty Tower, killing a bank employee and injuring several other people. It collapsed part of the ground floor into its basement and sent the façade across the street. Bricks, glass and bother debris littered the sidewalk outside the 13-story building, which had a Chase Bank branch at street level and apartments on upper floors.
The bank employee, 27-year-old Akil Drake, had been seen inside the building right before the blast, the Youngstown Police Department said Wednesday. Youngstown Fire Chief Barry Finley said in a news conference Tuesday that firefighters rescued several people and cleared the building to ensure no one else was hurt.
JPMorgan Chase mourned his loss and said it would work with local officials. “Our hearts go out to their family as well as our injured employees, their families and others affected by this tragedy," a company statement read.