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Official: 5 unaccounted for after Conn. Blast

About five people remain unaccounted for after a deadly explosion at an under-construction power plant, and a section of the site was too unstable to search, a fire official said this morning.. Sunday morning's blast at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, about 20 miles south of Hartford, killed at least five people and injured a dozen or more others. It happened as workers were clearing gas lines of air. Middletown Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano said officials have verified the whereabouts of 95 percent of the nearly 100 workers who were at the plant, citing conversations with contractors and labor union officials. It was unclear whether the workers who remain unaccounted for are missing or haven't been contacted yet by authorities. Investigators returned to the scene today to try to begin determining the cause. Santostefano said he didn't know when rescue crews would be able to search the small section of the plant that is unstable. Piles of rubble were 10 feet tall in some parts of the plant, and mounds of rubble and debris were everywhere, he said. Gov. M. Jodi Rell said this morning that officials still haven't received rosters of workers who were at the plant Sunday. "There are a number of contractors who do the work at the building," Rell told WTNH-TV. " The explosion was so powerful it alarmed residents who heard the boom and felt tremors in their homes miles away.

 

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