Gas Pipeline Explodes Near Birmingham

SHELBY COUNTY, AL (AP) Authorities say at least seven workers have been injured in an explosion on the Colonial Pipeline that sent flames soaring over the forest in a rural part of Alabama.

Gov. Robert Bentley says in a statement that the explosion happened Monday on the Colonial gas pipeline, about a mile west of the spot where it burst last month. That rupture led to gasoline shortages across the South.

Video from area media shows a huge plume of flame and smoke rising in a wooded area in Shelby County southwest of Birmingham.

Bentley told WBRC-TV in a live interview Monday evening that the seven injured workers were taken to Birmingham hospitals by helicopter and ambulance.