The Associated Press
SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — A woman who had left her home because of a punctured gas line Tuesday re-entered upon being given the all-clear, only to be killed along with a utility worker when the house exploded, authorities said.
Construction workers punctured a gas line in a subdivision under development about 4 p.m. Tuesday, officials said. Workers from Questar gas came to repair the leak.
The 24-year-old woman who owned the home left after being told of the leak, though an evacuation was not ordered, said Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon. After it was believed repaired, she and a 48-year-old man who worked for Questar re-entered.
The home exploded a couple of minutes later, leaving only part of a garage still standing. Neighboring homes, some still under construction, were also slightly damaged.
The woman’s daughter, a toddler, was outside the house with a baby sitter and was taken to the hospital as a precaution, Cannon said. The baby sitter was not injured, and the woman’s husband was down the street at the time.
The bodies of the homeowner and the gas company worker were found in the debris after a search, Cannon said.
The exact cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
Charges probably won’t be filed against the contractors who ruptured the gas line, Cannon said.
Telephone numbers for Questar, reached Tuesday after business hours, did not allow messages to be left.
Saratoga Springs is about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.