19 injured in British Columbia mill blast

BURNS LAKE, British Columbia, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- At least 19 people were injured, four critically, in an explosion and fire at a British Columbia sawmill, Canadian officials said.

Two people were believed to be missing after the blast and fire Friday night gutted the Babine Forest Products facility in Burns Lake, British Columbia, the Vancouver Sun reported.

Workers reported smelling gas just before the explosion.

Temperatures hovering around 0 degrees and falling snow hampered efforts to fight the fire, which burned through the night but was contained Saturday by firefighters.

The sawmill has about 250 employees. Most live in Burns Lake, a town of 2,300 people in the north-central part of the province.

"It is a tragic loss to the community, not only because individuals have been injured but it was a key employer for the area," Constable Lesley Smith, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said. "The mill industry is extremely influential for Burns Lake."