UPDATE: Fatal Explosion Came as Crews Removed Previously Exploded Tank

ARDEN, W.Va. — Authorities say one person was killed and a second severely injured in a Tuesday morning explosion at Midland Resources industrial site in Barbour County. It’s the second fatal accident at the facility near Arden in less than a month.

Emergency crews responded to the blast just after 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. Barbour County resident Chris Hershman was sitting in front of a local restaurant when he heard the explosion.

“I was at a place called Gypsy’s Arden Garden and sitting at a picnic table out front,” he said. “I heard a really loud explosion and the ground shook.”

The restaurant is about a mile from the explosion site.

“You could tell it was not normal, something was going on,” Hershman said. “Pretty soon you could hear emergency responders headed in that direction.”

The preliminary information to responding emergency crews indicated the explosion came as the workers were depressurizing the tank.

Investigators from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, OSHA, and the West Virginia Fire Marshal’s office are on the scene to start an investigation.

A May 24th explosion during the cleaning of a chemical storage tank at the same location killed two people and left a third severely injured.