Exploding Gas Storage Tanks Injure Worker In Miami

A man was maimed early Tuesday morning after an explosion rocked a Miami convenience store where workers were cleaning and dismantling old gas storage tanks, fire officials said. The 38-year-old man was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His left leg had been severed below the knee, and firefighters brought it to the hospital in the hopes it could be reattached, said Lt. Ignatius Carroll, a Miami Fire Rescue spokesman.

"The man was talking to them as they were working on him, but he was in shock," Carroll said.

The man and another were working at 350 NW 79th St., now a Quik Stop Market.

They had dug up three 3,000-gallon gasoline drums on Monday and were cleaning and dismantling the tanks, which hadn't been used in more than two decades.

The men were cutting through one of the tanks when a spark from the large circular saw apparently ignited fumes.

The end of one of the tanks blew off, striking the man's leg, Carroll said.

The second worker had stepped away for a moment and was not injured.

Inside the tank, fire crews found a few hundred empty beer bottles.

"We believe vagrants might have been using the tank for garbage," Carroll said. Remnants from the gasoline that was siphoned out may have been lingering in those bottles."

Miami fire and police are investigating.

Source: Written by The Miami Herald