Officials: 1 dead, 1 critically injured in blast on north Ala. Army base that tests missiles

Officials: 1 dead, 1 hurt in Army base explosion

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — One of two contract workers injured in an explosion Wednesday while removing a propellant from rockets at Redstone Arsenal has died.

Deputy Public Affairs Officer Kimberly Henry said the two injured were taken to the burn unit at UAB Hospital in Birmingham. UAB Hospital spokesman Bob Shepard says one man died of his injuries Wednesday night. He says the other worker is in critical condition.

Henry said a third person escaped injury from the blast, which occurred at 8:45 a.m. CDT and left part of the building in wreckage. She said all other personnel were accounted for.

The two taken to the hospital, whose names were not released, worked for a base contractor, Amtech Corp.

Henry said the explosion happened while workers were removing a propellant, ammonium perchlorate, from the rockets. It’s a process base officials call demilitarization. There was no word on what caused the chemical to explode.

The accident occurred in Building 7352, a test site that conducts missile and aviation research. Henry said the building was designed to minimize the impact of possible explosions and had passed recent safety inspections.

Redstone Arsenal, which says it employs 32,000 people on 38,000 acres at Huntsville, is the center of U.S. Army missile and helicopter programs. The base also develops and maintains weapons systems for the Army.

It is also where the federal government provides explosives training for state and local bomb technicians and investigators. Planning for the National Center for Explosives Training and Research began in 2002 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and the center graduated its first class last year.

The explosion was at a site separate from the center.