Two people were confirmed dead and dozens injured today when a gas power plant exploded in Middletown, Connecticut, US authorities have said.
Ambulances from across the region and several helicopters rushed to the scene of the Kleen Energy Systems LLC plant on the banks of the Connecticut River.
Officer Kevin White of Middletown Police said there were "mass casualties" but could not be precise. Firefighter Cliff Seifert confirmed numerous casualties, Reuters reported.
Medical rescue personnel said two people were confirmed dead and said at least 100 were injured, four critically, according to the Hartford Courant newspaper website.
The Associated Press news agency reported that Al Santostefano, the deputy fire marshal in Middletown, said 50 construction workers were in the section of the power plant where the explosion happened, and some people survived, bringing the estimated number of injured to fewer than 50.
Mr Santostefano said dogs are at looking for victims in the rubble, but there are no signs of life.
He says workers were purging the gas lines at the time of the explosion.
The 620-megawatt plant was being built to produce energy primarily using natural gas.
Eyewitnesses reported flames shooting up and black smoke billowing after the blast shattered the Sunday-morning calm.
Local hospitals were placed on mass casualty alert.
The explosion happened just before 11:30 a.m. (16:30 GMT) during tests at the site, a 620 megawatt gas-fired power plant which was due to come online in the summer.
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell was on her way to Middletown and had activated the state emergency operations center in Hartford, the state capital, her office said.
The Department of Public Health was providing tents for medical triage and shelter with temperatures hovering near freezing point and a brisk wind.
Middletown, a college town, is 23 miles (37 km) south of Hartford. Residents felt the blast, which some said hit with the force of an earthquake, for miles.
"The whole house shook. I didn't know what it was, whether it was the house or the water heater or what. Everything shook," said Cornelia Hull, who lives about a mile (0.6 km) from the plant.
Some local residents reported windows blown out by the force of the explosion. The blast was felt as far away as East Haven, a distance of 30 miles (48 km).
"I felt the ground shake and thought a tree had fallen nearby," said Ethan Goller, who at the time was working in his garage in Ivoryton, 20 miles (12 km) from Middletown.
Publicly available information compiled during the Kleen Energy plant approval process said that plant would operate on natural gas using a combined cycle turbine.
Such turbines reuse waste heat produced in the power generation process, increasing the plant's efficiency.
Contracting firm O&G Industries Inc. of Torrington, Connecticut, is overseeing all local, state, and federal permitting, engineering, and construction.
Agencies