One dead, 15 hurt in North Carolina gas leak explosion, fire: police
(Reuters) - At least one person was killed and a firefighter was seriously injured on Wednesday when a gas leak caused a building to blow up and burn in downtown Durham, North Carolina, police said.
The blast occurred at 10:27 a.m. EDT (1427 GMT) after a contractor boring under the sidewalk ruptured a gas line, Durham Police spokesman Wil Glenn told reporters at the scene.
Besides the injured firefighter and the person who was killed, neither of whom were identified, another 15 people were transported to area hospitals with unknown injuries and students at the nearby Durham School of the Arts were relocated, Glenn said.
Local television showed video of firefighters dousing the flames, which extended beyond the building that blew up and collapsed.
Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish
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