(AP) — Three people were killed and four others injured Monday when an explosion launched a boiler the size of a van through the roof a St. Louis box company and slammed much of it down hundreds of feet away in a neighboring laundry business, the fire chief said. The St. Louis Fire Department said on Twitter that four other people also were injured, two critically, in the blast shortly before 8 a.m. Monday at the Loy-Lange Box Co.

 

Fire officials say at least three buildings have been damaged by debris. The explosion happened Monday morning at the Loy-Lange Box Company, a custom box manufacturer located in an industrial area of south St. Louis.A van-sized piece of the boiler went airborne and crashed through the roof of Faultless Healthcare Linen, located a block away, said St. Louis City Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson, according to KTVI TV.The fire chief confirmed three fatalities, one person at the box company and two at the Faultless Healthcare Linen building. "Jenkerson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the explosion seems to have been accidental and that investigators will review machine maintenance records.The Collapse Rescue Task Force along with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department are investigating. Two others had non-life threatening injuries.Jenkerson says it's unclear if anyone was working on the boiler at the time.
A boiler explosion at a Missouri box company in St. Louis's historic Soulard neighborhood kills three people and injures four others.