4 Workers Remain Hospitalized After Fiery Explosion At Natural Gas Plant
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CHARTIERS TOWNSHIP (KDKA) - A fiery explosion injured four people Thursday night at a Washington County energy plant.
The incident happened at the MarkWest natural gas processing plant around 6 p.m.
Four employees were flown to Pittsburgh-area hospitals - two to UPMC Mercy and two to West Penn.
As of noon on Friday, two of the victims were listed in critical condition, while the other two were stable.
A statement from MarkWest said there was "an incident near two temporary tanks that were on-site for routine maintenance, resulting in a fire."
The fire started in a tank, which holds 200 barrels of liquid Ethylene Glycol plus hydrocarbons.
Meanwhile, neighbors said the explosion shook their homes.
"I was getting ready to go to work and I was lying in the bed and we heard this boom and it kind of shook the house," said Solomon Washington.
Washington said he called off work because his family has been evacuated in the past for an incident at MarkWest.
"We started hearing all these sirens going down the road and then there's helicopters flying everywhere and my wife had a scanner so we were listening to the scanner," said Washington.
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