A gas explosion in Bremerton, Washington, that ripped through a Motel 6 Tuesday night seriously injured one person and, while officials are still searching for two other missing people, no bodies have been found in the wreckage.
The blast, which happened at 8:24 p.m. Tuesday,
destroyed at least three rooms, the Kitsap Sun reported. The hotel had been evacuated earlier after reports of a gas leak.
A Cascade Natural Gas worker sustained second- and third-degree burns as a result of the blast and was transported to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.
Bremerton Fire Department officials reported early Wednesday that two hotel guests remained missing after the explosion.
Motel 6 manager Tonya Hinds told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that someone came into the hotel to alert her of a leaking gas line at the back of the building. Hinds, a former volunteer firefighter, said she examined the leak and decided to evacuate the building.
"I pulled the alarm and started corralling people away from the building," she told the newspaper. "I wanted to make sure all my guests were out."
Hinds said that 65 guests were registered to stay at the hotel, occupying 42 rooms.
The injured gas worker,
identified by KOMO-TV as Larry Jennings, is making "remarkable progress" but remains in critical condition.
"He's not out of the woods yet," friend Matt Mathisen said of Jennings' condition. "Doctors definitely say it's gonna be a long haul, but in the short term he still needs prayer. And it's not over for sure. There's a lot of work to do."
According to KOMO-TV, Jennings has worked for Cascade Natural Gas since 1982.
"There's a gas odor call and he's gone," Mathisen told KOMO-TV. "He just instantly responds, 'I got to go, like, now.' For public safety. He's definitely a servant out there for the public, and that's what he was doing last night — making it safe."
Amy Delaney, who lives across from the hotel, told the Post-Intelligencer that the blast stunned her.
"This was like the loudest most powerful explosion I can't even explain the force behind it," she said "I flew off the bed and landed on my head somehow, and I frickin' jumped up and I had no clue what was going on. It was crazy."
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