Explosions Rock Stadium; Expo Game Canceled

Two explosions shook Olympic Stadium in Montreal Friday, causing postponement of the Expos’ game against the San Diego Padres.

The explosions took place when two bottles of oxygen caught fire and burst inside an unfinished 10-story tower adjacent to the stadium. There were no injuries among the 60 workers at the site.

Firefighters managed to contain the fire near the top of the tower about an hour after the explosions, but they had trouble directing water on the blaze because their ladders only extended seven floors.

The stadium was used for the 1976 Olympic Games, but work on completion of the tower and the retractable roof was postponed by the Quebec government until two years ago because of cost overruns. The structure itself was not endangered by the fire.

The Padres and Expos will play a doubleheader today.