GATESVILLE, Texas (KWTX) One construction worker died and 12 others were injured in an explosion Tuesday afternoon in a building under construction at the rear of the Coryell Memorial Healthcare System in Gatesville, officials confirmed during a news conference Tuesday evening in Gatesville.
Three to four of the injured victims were in critical condition, officials said.
Earlier the hospital said four were injured.
County officials have been in contact with the Texas governor's office, and representatives of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. John Williams, County Judge John Firth said Tuesday evening.
Hospital officials asked for the community's prayers.
One witness said a generator exploded and officials said a natural gas line may have been involved.
No patients at the hospital at 1507 West Main St. were hurt, officials said.
One of the injured victims was initially reported as missing, but turned up at another hospital, officials said.
Power was knocked out in the west side of the city and the hospital was still without power early Tuesday evening.
The 12 current patients from the 25-bed Gatesville hospital were being evacuated to other facilities including Goodall Witcher Hospital in Clifton, several nurses said
The Gatesville ISD provided school buses to transport the nursing home residents, Gatesville Superintendent Eric Penrod said.
The hospital called in off-duty personnel to help, spokeswoman Carly Latham said.
Hospital are helping patients contact loved ones, she said.
Two injured men were taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.
They were both in critical condition.
Meanwhile at least two other area hospitals were on standby, expecting to receive injured victims.
Scott & White Medical Center in Temple and Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Waco activated their emergency operations centers Tuesday afternoon and were preparing to receive and treat victims of the incident at Coryell Memorial, Scott & White said in a statement.
"At this time, we do not have information about how many victims might be brought to our hospitals," Scott & White said.
The Oaks at Coryell and the Meadows near the Gatesville hospital, both of which are nursing facilities, were also being evacuated.
The evacuated residents were being taken to the First United Methodist Church, a church spokeswoman said.
Firefighters were sent shortly after 2:20 p.m. Tuesday to the hospital at 1507 West Main St.
Initial reports indicated the explosion occurred in a building under construction behind the existing facility that will house a boiler and chillers.
Cellphone video showed a cloud of black smoke rising from the grounds of the hospital after the explosion as the first fire crews arrived.
Power was out in downtown Gatesville and at the Coryell County Courthouse and some traffic lights were dark.
Gatesville police would only say the department was dealing with a major emergency and would provide no other details.
There was no other information on what might have happened, but it was known some streets were closed and one witness said there was a lot of black smoke visible in the area.
"I got hit in the head by a light fixture, but I'm okay," said one witness who was near the construction site when the explosion happened and asked not to be identified.
"There was an electrical generator on the other side of the building and it just blew up and scattered stuff all over the place."
He said there were others who were hurt.
"We just got everybody we could out of the building," he said.
Other construction workers were gathered in the front of the hospital.
Brody Bertolini was working at Kalyn Siebert Heavy-Duty Trailers across Memorial Drive from the hospital.
He said workers there heard and felt the explosion and then the business lost power.
"I was on Levita Road picking up my dogs when I heard this loud noise and by the time I got up to Memorial Drive there were all kinds of police and fire trucks headed that way," Gatesville attorney Tanya Place said.
She lives on Memorial Drive a short distance north of the Coryell Memorial Hospital.
"There's a lot of smoke, a lot of smoke," she said.
A Texas-New Mexico Power Company spokesman said the explosion knocked out power for a large portion of the city.
Ground was broken in November 2016 for a major renovation and expansion at the hospital.
The 117,000-square foot project includes new operating rooms, a new 25-bed hospital wing, administration offices, a 16-bed rehabilitation facility and a new central plant that houses chillers and boilers.
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