An explosion rocked a three-story building in south Minneapolis Wednesday, leaving at least six of 14 victims hospitalized in critical condition, officials said.
More than 50 firefighters endured frigid temperatures as they battled a three-alarm blaze that followed the 8:16 a.m. explosion, Assistant Chief of Administration Cherie Penn of the Minneapolis Fire Department said in a statement.
While no fatalities have been announced, officials are uncertain if everyone safely made it out of the building at 516 Cedar Avenue South in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.
Firefighters retreated from their search inside the structure, which houses a business on the first floor and apartments on the top two floors, because of unsafe conditions, Ms. Penn said.
John Elder, the police department's public information officer, said the first-floor business is a grocery.
The cause of the explosion was unknown as of Wednesday afternoon. "We believe it may have started in an apartment on the second floor," said Greg Nelson, senior supervisor for emergency communications for the city of Minneapolis.
Mr. Nelson said that a police officer reported a single explosion with debris falling out of the building. "We did have reports of people jumping out, but we are not able to verify that that did actually happen," Mr. Nelson said.
Firefighters battle a three-alarm blaze in a building occupied by Somalis. Associated Press
Zuhur Ahmed, a board member of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the group was monitoring the situation closely because a mosque is located near the building. Mr. Elder said the mosque is "in fine shape."
"So far we don't have any details," Ms. Ahmed said. "But whenever there's an explosion, fire or anything of that sort at a mosque or nearby a mosque, there's a little bit of concern if the motive is a hate crime."
Ms. Ahmed said Somali Americans owned the grocery store and mosque, and also are residents of the apartments.
The building was inspected in 2012 and didn't have any "outstanding inspection issues," Ms. Penn said.
Most of the victimswere taken to Hennepin County Medical Center and University of Minnesota Medical Center, fire officials said.
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