An explosion on Monday at a US Steel plant near Pittsburgh has left dozens wounded and people trapped under the rubble, with emergency workers on site trying to rescue them, officials said.
There are no confirmed fatalities at the Clairton Coke Works, said Abigail Gardner, director of communications for Allegheny County.
The Allegheny County Emergency Services said a fire at the plant started around 10:51 am and that it has transported five people. The agency did not provide any more details on those people transported and would only say it was an “active scene”.
The plant, a massive industrial facility along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, is considered the largest coking operation in North America and is one of four major US Steel plants in Pennsylvania that employ several thousand workers.
In recent years, the Clairton plant has been dogged by concerns about pollution. In 2019, it agreed to settle a 2017 lawsuit for $8.5 million. Under the settlement, the company agreed to spend $6.5 million to reduce soot emissions and noxious odors from the Clairton coke-making facility, on the Monongahela River about 32 km south of Pittsburgh.
The company also faced other lawsuits over pollution from the Clairton facility, including ones accusing the company of violating clean air laws after a December 2018 fire damaged the Clairton facility's sulphur pollution controls.
