Shopping plaza explosion injures 9
The Associated Press
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — An explosion ripped through a shopping plaza Thursday in this Chicago suburb, sending eight people to a hospital, but none with life-threatening injuries, fire officials said.
The explosion struck about lunchtime in the business district, located about 40 miles north of Chicago. The impact shattered windows and collapsed the roof of the plaza, which housed businesses including a cell phone shop, a tuxedo store and a hair salon.
Deputy Fire Chief Dan Young said authorities believe the incident was caused by a gas explosion. Officials were “99 percent” sure the rubble had been cleared, but they were still looking for one person who was unaccounted for, Young said.
In addition to the eight people sent to an area hospital — two of them in serious condition — another person was treated at the scene, Young said.
A fire that erupted had been extinguished, officials said, and Young said the injuries included smoke inhalation, bumps and bruises.
Candi Rixie said she was taking orders at Leno’s Submarine Shop, one block away from the shopping plaza, when she felt a huge noise.
“We felt like an earthquake, like somebody had hit the building with a car,” she said.
Rixie said she ran out of the restaurant to see what had happened. She and others first thought they saw bodies in the street, but realized it was clothes that had been on display in a store and had been blown outside by the blast.
A spokeswoman for People’s Gas said a crew was on the scene but hasn’t been able to get close enough to say what might have caused the explosion.
David Motley, a spokesman for the city of Waukegan, said the brick building was decades-old.
“The roof blew up and off and fell back down,” he said.
George Sanchez, general manager of Chicago-based Mena Travel agency, said his company’s Waukegan branch was adjacent to the explosion and employees inside felt the vibrations. But the store wasn’t damaged by the blast.
“Our folks are OK. They were asked to vacate the premises for safety reasons,” he said.
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