Explosion at downtown Fort Worth hotel injures at least 21, sends debris flying into street

FORT WORTH, Texas -- An detonation astatine a downtown Fort Worth, Texas, edifice perchance caused by a state leak injured astatine slightest 21 people, sent dense debris crossed a artifact and forced adjacent employees to evacuate Monday afternoon.

Fort Worth Fire Department officials said 1 idiosyncratic is successful captious information pursuing the detonation astatine the Sandman Signature Hotel, which occurred astir 3:30 p.m. section time.

Aerial footage successful Fort Worth, Texas, showed debris from the edifice scattered crossed downtown streets arsenic authorities said they were responding to a "major incident" and urged radical to debar the area. The Sandman Signature edifice is successful a engaged country of downtown astir 1 artifact from the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Fort Worth City Councilman Carlos Flores posted connected Facebook that determination had been a state leak and an explosion.

The city's exigency aesculapian work has sent 9 ambulances to the scene. A Fort Worth Fire spokesperson said they treated a full of 20 patients, 14 of them person been transported for aesculapian assistance. One diligent is successful captious condition, 4 others are being treated for superior injuries.

A 21st idiosyncratic with injuries drove themself to the hospital.

One idiosyncratic is unaccounted for. It's unclear if the idiosyncratic is simply a impermanent oregon an worker of the hotel.

Desiree Partain of MedStar said determination are not immoderate fatalities reported truthful acold but stressed that they were inactive assessing the situation.

Partain said she could not qualify the types of injuries that aesculapian unit were uncovering and said she did not cognize their cause.

Firefighters were seen going done debris from the incidental dispersed passim the street, including model pieces and parts of the exterior.

Fire section officials said a state leak was portion of the incident, but they couldn't instantly find if it caused the explosion.

"We bash cognize that determination was immoderate operation that was being done down astatine the restaurant. We're not 100% definite that that's wherever it really started astatine this constituent successful time," Forth Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek told reporters astatine a quality conference.

The probe is ongoing and archetypal responders are continuing to hunt passim the building.

"We'll speech astir the structural integrity ... aft that, and we're conscionable trying to marque definite that erstwhile we locomotion retired of that building, we tin definitively accidental that we've got everybody removed from that structure," Trojacek said.

According to the edifice website, the Sandman Signature Fort Worth Downtown Hotel has 245 rooms and was built successful 1920 arsenic the "Waggoner Building," named aft cattle rancher and oilman William Thomas Waggoner. The gathering has been listed connected the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

The hotel, located adjacent the Fort Worth Convention Center, opened past May pursuing an extended reconversion of the Waggoner Building, a Fort Worth humanities building.

Gov. Greg Abbott said successful a connection that helium was monitoring the concern and acceptable to deploy further resources if needed

This is simply a processing story. Check backmost for updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.