Fire chief: 3 die, 4 hurt when boiler explodes in St. Louis

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Three people were killed and four others injured Monday when an explosion launched a boiler the size of a van through the roof a St. Louis box company and slammed much of it down hundreds of feet away in a neighboring laundry business, the fire chief said.

One person died in the blast about 8 a.m. at the Loy-Lange Box Co. and two more were killed when a large piece of the boiler crashed into the Faultless Healthcare Linen building's office area a block away, Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said.

Investigators were trying to pinpoint what caused the cast iron boiler estimated to weigh about a ton and a half to explode at the building in a largely industrial area of south St. Louis, Jenkerson said.

Two of four survivors are critically injured, including a linen company worker who was found pinned beneath the boiler, which Jenkerson said was roughly 4 feet in diameter and 10 feet long (1.2 meters in diameter and 3 meters long).

He said the boiler was still hot when rescuers arrived and that it had traveled up to 500 feet (150 meters).

Read more: http://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/2017/04/03/fire-chief-3-die-4-hurt-when-boiler-explodes-st-louis/99990696/