An explosion that occurred on Monday caused the bottom floors of a hotel building in the downtown area of Fort Worth, Texas, to be shaken, causing at least 21 individuals to sustain injuries, according to the police.
At the news briefing that took place on Monday, the spokesperson for MedStar, Matt Zavadsky, stated that one individual was in critical condition and that four others had suffered significant injuries. All of the others had rather minor injuries.
A fire was reported at Sandman Signature Fort Worth Downtown Hotel at 3:32 p.m. local time, according to Fort Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek. A series of explosive calls followed.
Trojacek subsequently stated that the smell of gas spread across the downtown area of Fort Worth, and in addition, he stated that investigators are convinced that the explosion was "some kind of gas explosion."
On Monday evening, the fire department announced that the explosion did not pose any threats to public safety in the downtown area of Fort Worth. However, they did state that firefighters would remain on the scene throughout the night in order to conduct search operations and make sure that no one was trapped.
As stated by Desiree Partain, who works for MedStar, a company that offers ambulance and emergency medical services in Fort Worth, the medics who responded to the site treated four individuals but did not transport them to a hospital.
According to Trojacek, the investigation into the cause of the explosion is currently being conducted in collaboration with federal authorities. To add insult to injury, Trojacek stated that the situation had rendered rescue teams unable of instantly reaching some areas of the structure.
"We had reports of people trapped down in the basement, and because of the explosion that took place, some of those access areas were either covered up or it didn’t feel safe at that point to get people down into," Trojacek explained.