Chemical plant explosion in South Carolina kills one, 13 hospitalized

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2005

MIAMI (AFP) — One worker was killed and another 13 people were hospitalized on Monday after an explosion at a chemical plant in South Carolina, forcing the evacuation of local schools and homes as a precaution, local officials said.

"This involved a fire explosion with no chemical release. It was just vapors inside of a tank that two contractors were doing some contracting work for the company there," Bobby Baker, fire chief in the town of Taylors, told television station WYFF.

"There were two contractors hurt, one of them who is deceased now," Baker said.

According to Michael Hildebrand, spokesman for Greenville county, the two contractors apparently were welding the upper section of an empty tank when the explosion occurred.

As a precaution, three...