Gas explosion in Connecticut kills 5

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - An explosion blew apart a power plant under construction as workers purged natural gas lines yesterday, killing at least five people and injuring a dozen or more in a blast that shook homes for miles, officials said.

Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said at a late-afternoon news conference that five people were known dead and at least 12 injured.

Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano told The Associated Press last night that crews were still searching for survivors in the rubble at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, about 20 miles south of Hartford. The fire marshal's office said later that no one else was believed to be missing.

Santostefano had said earlier that about 50 people were in the area around 11:17 a.m., when the explosion occurred.

Giuliano said at the news conference it was difficult to tell how many people were at the plant because multiple contractors were working on it with their own employee lists.

"They're trying to figure out who was on the job today, and where are they now?" the mayor said.

The 620-megawatt plant was being built to produce energy primarily using natural gas. Santostefano said workers for the construction company, O&G Industries, were purging the gas lines, a procedure he called a "blow-down," when the explosion occurred.

Lynn Hawley, 54, of Hartland, Conn., told the AP that her son, Brian Hawley, 36, is a pipefitter at the plant. He called her from his cell phone to say he was being taken to Middlesex Hospital.

"He really couldn't say what happened to him," she said. "He was in a lot of pain, and they got him into surgery as quickly as possible." She said he had a broken leg and was expected to survive.

Officials had not released the conditions of the other injured people. Hospitals reported some seriously injured patients.

Kleen Energy Systems Llc began construction on the power plant in February 2008. It had signed a capacity deal with Connecticut Light and Power for the electricity produced by the plant.

Construction was scheduled to be completed by mid-2010.