At least seven injured after Kansas rail car explosion

By Kevin Murphy KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Reuters) - Seven people were taken to local hospitals after an explosion inside a rail car repair building in rural Kansas on Thursday afternoon, according to a company spokesman. The injured suffered from burns, smoke inhalation and one possible back injury from the rail car explosion at the GBW Railcar Services site in northeast Kansas, said Atchison County Emergency Management in a statement posted on its Facebook page. The company said that seven employees were being evaluated at area hospitals. The explosion occurred in an area used to prepare railcar surfaces for painting, the company said. Rail cars are refurbished and repaired at the site about 45 miles northwest of Kansas City, where 54 people work, the company said. Between 16 and 17 employees were in the building at the time of the explosion, the emergency management statement said. It appears that the car that exploded contained fuel, possibly gasoline, according to the emergency management statement. All other employees have been accounted for and were examined at the scene. (Additional reporting by Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Eric Walsh and Sandra Maler)