Ohio woman injured after car explodes due to propane tank inside

Fire officials are investigating after a woman in Ohio was injured this week when her vehicle exploded due to a propane tank inside, which was caught on security camera on Monday.

Loretta Gray said she was driving her vehicle through a neighbourhood parking lot in Cincinnati after leaving a cooking class.

Inside her car was a propane tank which she says she planned to return to the store. It had been in the car for about three hours, reports NBC-affiliate NECN. Fire officials say the tank led to the explosion but they are still trying to determine what set off the tank.

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“What I remember is backing out of the parking space, driving perhaps 20 feet and boom,” Gray told NBC-affiliate WLWT-5, adding she had felt the heat from the explosion.

As the flames burst from the car, the wall and the roof burst open and the windows blow out, with debris lining the street.

Gray said she wasn’t even sure she was still alive afterwards and that debris flew everywhere.

When the explosion happened, Cincinnati police officer Perry Locke was nearby and felt the explosion.

“It was almost like it reverberated through me,” Locke told NBC. “From the force of the boom, it took me a second to collect myself.”

Locke said he called for assistance before realizing there was someone still in the vehicle.

He told FOX19 he helped Gray get onto the ground, before she attempted to get up as she screamed. He said he could tell she was burned on her upper extremities and her torso.

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“All she could do was scream,” he said. “Screams that I will never forget for the rest of my life.”

With the assistance of other emergency officials, Locke said they were able to get her out of her vehicle through the passenger window.

The officer said he was just glad he was there when he was.

“Sometimes those precious minutes can mean a lot,” he said. “I was here for a reason in the right place at the right time.”

She was taken to hospital with third-degree burns and is now recovering at home.

For Gray, surviving the blast with burns isn’t important compared to surviving the incident.

“All of this will heal, this is just superficial,” Gray told NBC. “My life will go on.

“I’m here for a reason, I don’t know what it is. Someone, somewhere needs me in their life and I’m here for a reason.”