Gas Line Explodes at Illinois Plant

A gas line explosion rocked a technology plant in northern Illinois Monday, sending trembles through buildings as far as a mile away. As CBS Station WBBM in Chicago first reported, one man was killed by flying shrapnel a quarter mile away.

Belvidere police said the gas line exploded Monday afternoon at the NDK America, Inc. plant, which makes synthetic crystals for computers.

"It sounded like a traffic accident - a boom," said Greg Brown, a school district official in the community of about 20,000 residents about 70 miles northwest of Chicago. "We thought someone dropped something on the roof. It was like a little earthquake."

Illinois Tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis says the man died Monday afternoon after being hit by debris. The victim was a customer at a toll road oasis on Interstate 90, which has several restaurants and a gasoline station.

McGinnis says Illinois State Police are trying to contact the man's family before releasing his identity.

Nobody at the plant itself was injured, Belvidere Mayor Fred Brereton said.

Jim Fealtman, a regional sales manager at NDK America's office in Webster, Mass., the company's other U.S. location, confirmed that no one was injured at the Belvidere plant at the time of the blast, but had no other information.

Pictures from the scene showed at least one side of a factory tower blown away, exposing beams. Debris from the blast was visible on the ground. Aerial photos showed at least three sides were damaged, with twisted interior support beams clearly visible.

According to the company's website, the Tokyo-based company opened the Belvidere crystal operation in 2003. NDK manufactures and supplies crystal products used in mobile devices, automobile electronics and other high-tech devices.