FORREST CITY — A butane tank exploded Monday morning at a recycling center, sending two employees to a Memphis hospital with burns, officials said.
Two men were cutting scrap metal with a torch at J.W.'s East Arkansas Recycling on Arkansas 70, about 5 miles west of Forrest City, when a torch ignited fumes leaking from the butane tank, said Tommy Jackson, a spokesman with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
The explosion occurred at 11:36 a.m., Cpl. Clyde Williams of the St. Francis County sheriff's office said.
The two workers, whose names were not released, were flown by medical helicopter to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis.
One man had second-degree burns on his back, Williams said. The other man suffered second- and third-degree burns on his arms, he said.
One of the victims was listed in critical condition, he said.
The workers were cutting large scraps of metal with an acetylene torch, Williams said. Sparks ignited fumes leaking from a faulty regulator on the butane tank, he said.
The air burst into flames, causing the tank to explode.
The explosion demolished the tank but did not damage any other property, Williams said.
Police did not evacuate nearby homes, and the center did not close, Jackson said.
Video surveillance cameras at the recycling plant caught the blast, Williams said.
"It was a large explosion," he said. "As soon as it happened, people started running."
No one else was injured.
A woman answering the telephone at the recycling plant said she was not there when the explosion occurred and that others who heard the blast were working in the lot and could not come to the telephone.
Arkansas, Pages 9, 14 on 08/25/2009