WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 — At least one person was killed and one remains missing with nine others injured, after a natural gas explosion took down a school building on Wednesday in the midwestern US state of Minnesota, authorities said.<\/p>\n
John Fruetel, fire chief of the Minneapolis Fire Department, told press that a body was pulled from the rubble of the collapsed building at Minnehaha Academy’s upper school in Minneapolis Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The chief said fire crew were searching for what was initially reported three missing persons when they found the body.<\/p>\n
One of those missing was found earlier outside the building and uninjured, leaving one person still unaccounted for after the confirmed death of who was later identified as a female employee of the private academy.<\/p>\n
A search is underway beneath at least two floors of debris in attempt to locate the last missing person, an 81-year-old school janitor.<\/p>\n
“We still consider it a rescue at this point,” Fruetel said. “We’re going to do our best to locate everyone that’s unaccounted for.”<\/p>\n
A local hospital said nine people were hospitalized, with three in critical condition, four in serious condition and two suffering minor trauma.<\/p>\n
Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said the injured were all adults, either school employees or contractors.<\/p>\n
Fire officials confirmed the explosion was caused by a gas line ruptured by contractors who were working on the building.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the academy said earlier the explosion involved a natural gas leak, but it only affected the upper school. It also has a lower school, many blocks downriver.<\/p>\n
Founded in 1913, Minnehaha Academy is a Christian school, which had over 800 students enrolled during the 2015-2016 school year, with the upper school housing grades 9-12.<\/p>\n
The 2017-2018 school year is scheduled to begin on Aug. 23, but there were students, teachers and coaches at the school for sport training, summer school and other activities.<\/p>\n
A school official said about a dozen students in the school gym were all fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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