WICHITA, Kan. _ A liquid-nitrogen explosion rattled the Beechcraft aircraft manufacturing facility in east Wichita on Friday, injuring more than a dozen people and causing extensive damage to a building that houses the company's composite manufacturing operations and experimental aircraft fabrication.
The blast sent at least 14 workers to the hospital with injuries ranging from minor to critical, authorities said. The financial extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
Textron Aviation spokeswoman Stephanie Harder said engineers will be assessing the destruction in the coming days "to make sure we understand the safety of the structure ... (and) what it's going to take to get that back operational."
She did not have know the exact number of people inside of Plant 3 when a 3-inch liquid nitrogen line ruptured at around 8:05 a.m. on Friday, causing an explosion that left a rupture in a second nitrogen tank. Parts of the building caved in.
But, she said during a news conference held shortly before noon Friday, that all workers, contractors and visitors were accounted for.
"One of the benefits is the plant was closed, or shutdown, for the holiday season, so the numbers that would have been here were not. So it was a skeleton crew," Sedgwick County Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Wegner said.
The impact was contained to Plant 3 "and is in the process of being investigated and secured," Harder said. In the aftermath of Friday's blast, Textron was also working to secure and ensure the safety of the other buildings on site.
"Our primary concern is obviously for all of the employees and contractors and visitors on site during this incident," Harder said.
The Cessna SkyCourier, a twin-turboprop utility aircraft under development by Textron Aviation, was located in the building that exploded, she said.
In a written statement, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said her "thoughts are with those who were injured by this explosion."
"I have been briefed on the situation and my administration is in communication with local authorities, Beechcraft and Textron. We are monitoring the situation closely and are prepared to coordinate support as needed," she wrote.
"If you've ever been to an airshow, it sounded like a sonic boom," said Joel Schepis, who lives in the neighborhood just west of Beechcraft.
He said the blast rattled his house enough that dust and debris fell through cracks in his ceiling.
Another neighborhood resident told The Wichita Eagle she initially thought the explosion was an earthquake that "shook my entire house."
"When I opened my front door, I was just blown away," she said.
Authorities didn't know Friday morning what caused the 3-inch nitrogen line to rupture. Wegner said that leak was contained sometime before 10:30 a.m. on Friday, when crews stopped it by shutting off a valve, he said.
But authorities were allowing gas from other tanks to vent into the air, causing a white plume that resembled steam to temporarily hover over the building.
Wegner assured people who live and work nearby that there is no health hazard associated with the nitrogen gas release.
"Crews right now are doing building assessments, looking at the structural integrity of the buildings that were impacted," he said Friday morning.
"Our hazardous materials teams are in the process of assessing the distribution systems of the nitrogen gas and checking to make sure that we don't have any secondary issues with the system."
Sedgwick County Emergency Medical Services director John Gallagher said ambulances took 11 people to local hospitals and EMS crews checked out four others at the explosion site. He said early rumors of a fatality were false.
Ascension Via Christi spokeswoman Roz Hutchinson said the hospital's St. Francis campus saw nine patients _ seven transported by ambulance and two who arrived in private vehicles.
Of those, four had been treated and released by mid-afternoon Friday, and a fifth was expected to follow shortly, Hutchinson said. Two people initially in serious condition had been upgraded to fair condition and a third was in good condition.
A patient in critical condition had been upgraded to serious condition.
Wesley Medical Center treated five patients. Two had been treated and released by mid-afternoon Friday and three others were listed "in stable condition," said Dave Stewart, spokesman for Wesley.
"I do want to acknowledge the incredible partnership that we have experienced this morning _ from our first responders and our emergency medical personnel," Harder said.
"We are extremely fortunate in this community to have such expertise on site, willing to do everything possible to make sure that our employees are taken care of and safe."
