Over 20 injured in hotel explosion in Texas

At least 21 people were injured, four of them seriously, in an explosion after a probable gas leak at a hotel in Fort Worth in the state of Texas in the United States.

Windows were blown out, rubble, doors and whole, and parts of, walls were pushed out and scattered across the street outside the Sandman Signature hotel.

– There was rubble everywhere, there was insulation and office furniture, eyewitness Charlie Collier describes to AP and adds:

– Everything that was on the first floors of the hotel flew out into the street.

For one person, the condition is said to be critical. Emergency crews found several people trapped in the basement, according to Craig Trojacek, a spokesman for the city fire department.

At the time of the explosion, about 20 of the hotel’s 245 rooms were occupied. There is ongoing construction work in the property, which contributes to the theory that leaking gas could be an underlying explanation. But the reason is not yet clear.

The hotel was built in 1920 and is listed as a building of historical interest.