The US authorities reported that at least 21 people were injured in an explosion that caused significant damage to a hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday.
Craig Trojasek, a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said in a press conference that one person was in critical condition and two in serious condition. He added that eight others suffered minor injuries.
The cause of the explosion at the hotel, which occurred around 3:30 PM, was unclear, although Trojasek mentioned there was ‘a smell of gas in the area.
Recent years have witnessed several significant natural gas-related explosions in the United States. In 2022, within a span of four months, there were four notable natural gas explosions. These incidents occurred in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In Oklahoma, a fire erupted at a natural gas facility due to an explosion. In Texas, there were two incidents: one in June at a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility, which fortunately did not result in any injuries, and another in July, where an Energy Transfer natural gas pipeline exploded, leading to a two-hour fire in rural Houston. The explosion in Kansas at a natural gas plant injured two people and necessitated evacuation orders due to the potential dangers posed by thousands of gallons of trapped liquid natural gas.
InvestigateTV’s analysis of data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reveals a concerning trend of gas leak incidents in the United States. Since 2010, there have been more than 2,700 significant gas leak incidents across the country, with 362 of these resulting in explosions. These incidents have resulted in nearly 700 injuries and over 140 fatalities. A study estimates that there are approximately 630,000 natural gas leaks annually in local distribution systems alone. The analysis indicates that equipment failure and corrosion are the most common causes of these incidents.
Furthermore, the FracTracker Alliance, analyzing PHMSA data, reports that from 2010 to 2019, there were 1,226 incidents related to gas transmission and gathering pipelines, resulting in 25 fatalities and 108 injuries. Equipment failure was again the most common cause, accounting for 32% of the incidents. The data also highlights that pipelines installed more recently are among those that fail most often.
