US: Baltimore building explosion injures at least 23

An apparent explosion in a high-rise building in Baltimore left two people trapped in scaffolding and injured at least 23 people on Wednesday, Report informs,

The Baltimore City Fire Department said the explosion happened just before 8:30 a.m. on West Fayette and Charles streets. A total of 23 people were rescued from the building.

Twenty-one people, all construction contractors, were transported to hospitals after the explosion caused a partial roof collapse. Nine of those injured are in critical condition. Emergency personnel treated two other people on the ground for burn injuries.

“The incident ran from the 10th floor to the roof,” fire Chief Niles R. Ford said.

A window-washing crew was on a scaffolding at the time of the explosion. Ford said a special operations team needed to break windows on the 10th and 11th floors to pull the crew to safety.

Emergency crews completed a floor-by-floor search in the building to find any other injured people. Streets surrounding the area were closed off, and nearby buildings were evacuated.