3 killed, 5 injured after explosion on towboat in Kentucky

Three people were killed and five others injured after an explosion on a docked towboat on the Tennessee River in Kentucky on Friday, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

Authorities are investigating what caused the blast on the vessel, which was moored and being repaired at the First Marine facility in Calvert City, according to Coast Guard spokeswoman Lexie Preston.

At least 20 people were doing work on the boat at the time of the explosion, Preston said.

Officials have not released the identities of the dead and the injured. The wounded were taken to local hospitals, according to Preston.

Local and state law enforcement officers were at the scene, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent an investigator there, the Coast Guard said. The local fire department told people to avoid the area for the time being.