WASHINGTON, District of Columbia: An explosion struck a US naval weapons station in New Jersey on Tuesday, injuring eight people, including one seriously, officers said.
“We can confirm there was an explosion. Emergency responders are on the scene,” Lt. Greg Raelson told AFP.
Local media said the explosion took place during maintenance work on a vessel at the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey.
The explosion occurred in the morning “while personnel were doing routine maintenance on a utility boat,” said Navy spokesman Lt. Greg Raelson in a statement.
One person was being treated at a local hospital while seven others suffered minor injuries in the explosion at the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey, he said.
Ammunition and ordnance operations at the facility were “not affected” by the blast.
About 1,500 people work at the naval station, which is used as a weapons depot and for ship repairs.
“The cause of the explosion is under investigation,” he said.
One of the suspects in the stabbing later wounded the nurse with a knife after being asked for identity papers while seeking treatment at a hospital following the fight.
Marseille has been plagued in recent years by a wave of shootings, often with Kalashnikov assault rifles, connected with the drug trade.
The violence has reached such levels that a local official last year called for the military to be sent in and the government formed a task force to tackle the crime wave.
But critics accuse the government of ignoring the city's underlying problems of poverty, unemployment and the marginalisation of ethnic minorities.
Despite the regeneration of its port and the boost it has received from being named as the 2013 European City of Culture, Marseille remains a poor city with fewer than half of households paying income tax.
Blast at US naval station; eight injured
