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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals after an explosion on Tuesday at a Louisville, Kentucky, business that produces natural color for foods and drinks.
The explosion, which happened at Givaudan Sense Colour, knocked out windows and blew in doors in nearby homes and businesses. News video footage showed an industrial building with the middle section burned and partially collapsed. The cause remained unknown.
No one answered the phone at the company's Louisville office, and a man who answered at the Port Washington, Wisconsin, office declined to comment.
The University of Louisville Hospital treated seven of the people injured, and two of them are in critical condition, said Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer for University of Louisville Health.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said officials spoke to employees inside the plant, conveying things were normal, and all who were working at the plant at the time of the explosion are accounted for. Officials would not comment on the severity of the injuries received by the people who were taken to hospitals.
Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill said air monitoring began immediately after the explosion, and "nothing at this point has ever shown any type of chemical problems in the air in this entire region." O'Neill also said that fire officials "don't precisely know yet exactly what types of leaks may happen or may be ongoing," but he urged residents to stay calm.
Louisville Metro Emergency Services had urged people within a mile of the business to shelter in place, but that order was lifted about two hours after the explosion, though the blast knocked out several windows in a nearby business district, and many were boarded up as night fell.
Steve Parobek, a resident who was cleaning up glass from his blown-out kitchen window at the fourplex apartment he lives in just a block away from the plant, said he had "never expected something like this to happen."
The building had 10 windows blown out from the blast, but Parobek only had one of them, which he said was lucky. He added he found his cat safe and used two pizza boxes and some duct tape to cover his window as temperatures dropped steadily Tuesday night.
Patrick Livers, who lives in a neighborhood immediately across the railroad tracks from the plant, was at work, and his mother had picked up his children from school and was bringing them home when he got a FaceTime call telling him his house was "demolished."
Thankfully, Livers said no one was home at the time of the explosion, despite it blowing out windows up and down his street.
"It looked like a small tornado went off inside the house," he added.
Contributing: John Raby
