At least 10 injured after explosion at Texas hotel as police declare 'major incident'
9 January 2024, 00:36
At least 10 people have been injured after an explosion at a hotel in Fort Worth, Texas.
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The explosion at the Sandman Signature hotel left at least 11 people injured, local media reported.
Two people were critically injured, and one person's condition was given as serious. The rest had minor injuries, authorities said.
Footage appeared to show firefighters picking their way through the piles of rubble, shattered glass and mangled metal that coated the street outside the hotel.
The blast is understood to have been caused by natural gas, said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesperson Sara Abel, who was briefed by local police.
The Sandman Signature hotel is in a busy area about one block from the Fort Worth Convention Centre.
Authorities have urged people to avoid the area.
Fort Worth police tweeted: "We are currently working a major incident. Please avoid the downtown area.
"PIOs are on scene. We will share more details as soon as we can confirm more information."
"There is a smell of gas in the area and there are windows and things that were blown outside of the structure," said Craig Trojacek, a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department.
The Sandman Signature Fort Worth Downtown Hotel has 245 rooms and was built in 1920 as the "Waggoner Building," named after cattle rancher and oilman William Thomas Waggoner.
The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
