1 man suffers burns in Oklahoma gas well explosion

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Authorities say one man suffered burns to his legs in a gas well explosion in eastern Oklahoma.

Pittsburg County Emergency Management Director Kevin Enloe says the man was taken to a Tulsa hospital in stable condition Thursday after the blast at Trinity Resources near Quinton, about 100 miles southeast of Tulsa.

Earlier reports suggested numerous people were hurt and that the explosion occurred in an oil field.

Enloe says the explosion occurred when the employee opened a valve on a well that had undergone maintenance work and two other wells also caught fire before being extinguished. He says the cause of the blast was not immediately known.

Trinity released a statement saying the company followed established safety procedures and that an investigation is underway to determine what caused the blast.

A state road in the area was closed for a time after the blast, but has reopened.