Ohio explosion caused by cut gas line believed to have been turned off, investigators say

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A crew working in the basement of an Ohio building intentionally cut a gas line without knowing it was pressurized before a deadly explosion this week, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

NTSB board member Tom Chapman said the preliminary investigation shows that workers were in the basement to clean pipes and other outdated infrastructure and debris from the basement and vault area – which extends beneath the sidewalk next to the building – in anticipation of a city project to fill. the area and replace the sidewalks. A crew of five and a supervisor were on site that day and four of the workers were there when it happened, he said.

“It was an apparently abandoned utility line off the main line, which ran parallel to the street,” Chapman said.

He said workers didn’t smell any gas before they started cutting the pipe and knew there was a problem when they made the third cut.

At that moment, workers activated the fire alarm and alerted residents and bank employees to evacuate. Chapman said the explosion happened six minutes later. He also said all indications are that it was accidental.

Investigators will try to determine why the tube was pressurized and how long it had been pressurized.

Chapman said the investigation will continue without access to the interior of the building until engineers can determine if it is safe to enter the building. He said the NTSB obtained security video from inside the bank and other video evidence.

The explosion on Tuesday afternoon destroyed much of the ground floor of the Realty Tower, killing one bank employee and injuring several others. He collapsed part of the ground floor into his basement and sent the facade across the street. Bricks, glass and other debris covered the sidewalk in front of the 13-story building, which had a Chase Bank branch at street level and apartments on the upper floors.

Investigators are also trying to find out if the people in the bank heard the fire alarm.

Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said in a news release Friday that the city had hired a construction company called GreenHeart to perform the relocation of private utilities in the basement of the Realty Tower. He said there is “no evidence” that cutting the gas line mentioned by the NTSB was necessary to complete that work.

Greenheart did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.

Bank employee Akil Drake, 27, was seen inside the building shortly before the explosion, police said. Firefighters rescued other people while clearing the building.

Seven injured people were taken to a Youngstown hospital. One woman remained hospitalized as of Thursday in critical condition, but her name and further details about her injuries were not released. Three others were in stable condition and the other three were released.