Officials have confirmed that one construction worker died and 12 others were injured in the explosion.
The explosion seems to have originated in an expansion area of the hospital that was undergoing construction. There also appears to have been a partial building collapse at the site of the explosion.
Pics via KWTX-TV pic.twitter.com/q0KKYSYzle
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Police have stated that they are responding to a "major emergency" at the hospital, AlboeNews reported Tuesday.
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The hospital and nearby nursing facilities have been evacuated. Patients are being transferred to a nearby hospital in Hamilton, Texas. At least 12 people have been transported to area hospitals, Gatesville police confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
"I was on Levita Road picking up my dogs when I heard this loud noise, and by the time I got up to Memorial Drive, there were all kinds of police and fire trucks headed that way," Gatesville attorney Tanya Place, who lives nearby, told CBS News. "There's a lot of smoke."
"I got hit in the head by a light fixture, but I'm okay," Tyler Ayers, who was near the site of the explosion, told KWTX-TV. "There was an electrical generator on the other side of the building and it just blew up and scattered stuff all over the place."
There are also reports of a power outage in the surrounding area.
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Coryell Memorial Hospital provides several health services, including a level IV trauma center emergency room, more than 30 primary and specialty care providers, an advanced wound care center, outpatient rehabilitation center and a nursing facility with long-term care and inpatient rehabilitation, KCEN-TV reported. The hospital began renovations in November 2016.
