Two Workers Missing After Blast Rips Substation in Ford Complex

Divers were searching through piles of debris and water-filled tunnels Monday for two maintenance workers missing after a massive explosion rocked a power substation at Ford Motor Co.’s Rouge complex.

The underground blast ripped holes in two employee parking lots and temporarily shut down much of the facility. Thousands of afternoon and night shift workers were told not to report for their shifts.

The two missing workers, employed by Doetsch Industrial Services Co. of Detroit, were working in the immediate area of the blast.

Two other people in one parking lot were slightly injured in the blast, Ford spokesman Bill Carroll said. They were treated at a hospital and released.

“For the moment, our No. 1 priority is to find out what caused the accident and to locate the two missing people,” said Alexander J. Trotman, who will become executive vice president for Ford’s North American operations on May 1.

The substation supplies steam power and compressed air to the massive complex, which produces steel, glass and stampings for the nation’s No. 2 auto maker.

Trotman said the divers were looking for the missing men in seven- to eight-foot-high tunnels connecting two power substations. Crews were attempting to pump four to six feet of water from the tunnels.

Asbestos pipe wrapping was blown into the area during the explosion, Trotman said. Ford crews watered down the entire area to minimize exposure to the cancer-causing substance, he said.