Minneapolis Building Fire Leaves 14 Hospitalized; Some in Critical Condition After Explosion Near Downtown

At least 14 Minneapolis residents were hospitalized after an explosion near the city's downtown turned into a building-wide fire on Wednesday morning.

Witnesses reported an explosion and visible flames in a three-story building at around 8:15 a.m., according to spokesperson for Hennepin County Emergency Medical Services Robert Ball, who spoke with the Associated Press shortly after officials were sent to the scene of the blast.

Victims of the explosion - some of whom sustained critical injuries - were found strewn about the snow-pocked ground, indicating that they could have fallen from three stories above, AP reported.

"It's not clear whether people were pushed out of the building from the explosion, or whether they fell or jumped out of windows to escape," Ball stated.

Although no fatalities were reported, Assistant Minneapolis Fire Chief Cherie Penn told AP that 14 people had been transported to local medical facilities nearby. Six were thought to be in critical condition, and ten victims who were checked into Hennepin County Medical Center had broken bones, were badly burned, or both, according to spokesperson for the hospital Christine Hill.

Officials haven't yet determined what caused the blast, which caused the roof of the building to collapse partially. Firefighters experienced some difficulty searching for potentially lost residents beneath the rubble, while clouds of dark smoke rose steadily from the building, which has a grocery store on the ground level and two stories of apartments above, AP reported.

Spokesperson for CenterPoint Energy Becca Virden said authorities were also unsure as to how the fire began. Virden told AP that no gas leaks in the immediate vicinity of the explosion had been reported.