Two people were hospitalized and several others were injured after an explosion at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson.
The explosion occurred just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening in a concessions trailer at the fairgrounds. A small fire caused several injuries, including two people were taken to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.
While their conditions are unknown, their injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Several others suffered injuries at the scene but did not need additional treatment.
The Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Hutchinson Fire Department are investigating the incident.
A Hutchinson firefighter told local TV news network KSN a can was on or near the grill and exploded, causing the trailer’s glass windows to shatter and the crowd to scatter.
“We were walking by and it sounded like a big bomb,” fairgoer Hailey Crank told 12 News Wichita. “Everybody started running, we all ducked.”
Pictures of video of the aftermath showed a taped-off area with an empty trailer advertising steak and fries and large glass shards on the ground.
“Glass blew all the way back,” fair attendee Rick Dunsworth told KSN. “It was a heck of a boom, you could tell something blew up.”
The 10-day fair, which opened Sept. 6, is scheduled to run through Sept. 15. It draws about 350,000 people annually.
Hutchinson is a town in central Kansas about 50 miles northwest of Wichita.