Five-year-old Boy Killed, Two Others Critically injured in Gas Explosion

A five-year-old boy was killed, and his sister and father were transported to area hospitals with critical burns after an explosion rocked the center of Lexington Wednesday night.

According to Lexington City officials a Liberty gas line was ruptured behind the Walder-Nadler-Fuller Funeral Home by a subcontractor (Sellenriek Construction) working on a fiber optics cable at 5:30 p.m.  Liberty Gas responded and arrived on scene, and began digging down to find the break to repair it.

The gas explosion occurred at 7:45 p.m., well over two hours later, after the father (Jacob Cunningham) reportedly lit a cigarette, not knowing his house was filled with gas fumes from the gas line rupture.

The Cunningham home was leveled, Jacob and his daughter Cami, 10, suffered severe burns and 5-year-old Alistair Cunningham was killed.

Two other nearby homes caught fire as well and windows were blown out of homes down the street in the area of 18th and Franklin.

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Liberty turned off gas service around 9:21 p.m.

One neighbor said her daughter smelled gas at 3:30, long before the 7:45 p.m. explosion.

OSHA is currently investigating the contractor, the subcontractor and Liberty Gas Utilities.

The City of Lexington posted the following on their Facebook page:

“While our goal is to restore service as quickly as possible, we want to make our customers aware that this may be an extended outage. Until we know more through the ongoing investigation, we cannot provide exact restoration times. We have multiple crews on the ground assisting our efforts. Restoring gas service is a multi-stage process and will take some time to perform. We have just under 2,000 customers currently without service. At this time, crews are going from home to home, turning off gas meters, an initial step in the restoration process. We will continue to post updates on our website as we know more. We thank our customers and partners for their patience as we work through this process.”

Also posted:

“The Lexington Ministerial Alliance is coordinating relief efforts with the American Red Cross for the victims of the recent fire. Anyone interested in donating clothing items, personal hygiene items, and other immediate items can be dropped off at the Lexington United Methodist Church on Friday, April 11 between 10 am and 2 pm. Cash gifts are also accepted and can be given in person at the same time and location. All proceeds will be directed to the families affected by the fire. Dr. Thomas Rowland, Lexington City Councilman, is also assisting with this effort.”

At 7:21 p.m., Wednesday night (24 minutes before the explosion), the Lexington Police Department posted:

“Please be aware that 18th street between Franklin and South Street is closed due to a gas leak. Crews are on the scene.

--Chief J. Coen”

Lexington is located about 90 minutes northwest of Sedalia in Lafayette County.