Eight Employees Of A Lumberton-based Company Injured In Virginia Explosion

Eight Employees Of A Lumberton-based Company Injured In Virginia Explosion

Eight Employees of a contracting company based in Lumberton, were injured Sunday at a middle school in midtown Newport News,Va.

According to Newport News Police, the workers received various degrees of injuries. The blast occurred at Crittenden Middle School.

The injured were reportedly employees of T.R. Driscoll, Inc. of Lumberton. This report was not confirmed.

The company had been doing repairs at the school for about five weeks. When the explosion occurred, the employees were melting tar and re-tarring the roof.

It appeared some of the injuries were severe.

The explosion tore out a 20-by-50-foot wall. The blast could be felt a good distance from the school.

The names of the injured were not released.

Jim Driscoll, president of the company, nor his brother Stuart, vice president, did not return calls made to them.

Four victims were transported to Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, which is a Level 11 trauma center. The victims were transported to the Sentara Hampton CarePlex Hospital in Hampton, Va. The other victim was transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, another trauma center.

Two of the injured at Riverside were later transported to Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. Two others originally taken there were moved to Sentara Norfolk General.

The cause of the blast is under investigation. A report states it appeared to be related to the repair work.

Due to the fact it was an industrial accident, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry is conducting a separate investigation.

The school is closed today. It appeared the damage was confined to one room.

T. R. Driscoll is a third-generation, family-owned-and-operated business that was established in 1924.