Employee killed in Ohio bank building explosion had just returned from vacation in Mexico

A man who was tragically killed in a deadly gas explosion on Tuesday was a bank employee who had just returned from a vacation.

Akil Drake, 27, an employee of the Chase Bank in Youngstown, Ohio, was killed in a natural gas explosion last week. A GoFundMe created by his family says that Akil was "very excited" about his career following his recent promotion.

Akil returned from a vacation to Mexico on Tuesday, 28 May, the same day tragedy occurred, his sister, Traesha Pritchard, has revealed. The explosion happened within six minutes of a gas cut line by crew members working in the basement area of the Realty Tower, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

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The workers pulled the fire alarm and alerted residents and bank employees to evacuate. Tom Chapman, a board member of NTSB said workers were in the basement to clear out piping and other outdated infrastructure.

They smelled no gas before they started cutting the pipe and knew there was a problem when they made the third cut. The explosion happened six minutes after that cut. Investigators will try to determine why the pipe was pressurized.

The blast, which happened at around 2.45 pm on the ground floor of a 13-story building, sent the facade crashing into the street, killing Akil and injuring several others.

Akil was reported missing after the explosion but the destruction made it difficult for emergency responders to search for him. Fire Chief Barry Finley said after the explosion: “The floor is collapsed in on itself, there's nothing to see, it's full of water, so honestly, we don't know if that person is down there or not. When we get clearance to go into the building… until then, I will not put any of my firefighters down there to do a search for any reason right now.”

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Akil's body was recovered from the rubble on Wednesday morning at around 12.30am. “It’s a tough part when you have to tell a mother that her son got up yesterday to go to work and he did not come home,” Mayor Tito Brown said at a press conference.

Akil's sister paid tribute to her brother on a GoFundMe page which has raised $2,150 in donations for the family of the bank employee. She wrote: "Akil was a Chase Bank employee who just received a promotion and was very excited about his career. On Tuesday, May 28th Akil just returned back to work from a trip to Mexico

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"As a family, we are overwhelmed with the condolences. Many people have asked to give our family donations. Although, we are well with services we have decided to create a link to accept from those who have been trying to give. No words can describe how we're feeling but we are humbly thankful for those who have asked to give to myself and my mother."

Describing the moment of the explosion, Debora Flora, executive director of Mahoning County Land Bank, who works in the area, said: “I heard the boom, and I looked up and I could see dark smoke coming out of the side of the Chase Bank building… but it was such a really strong, strong boom, you know, I blurted out, 'Oh my God'".

A resident in the area, Justine Reynolds added: “When I got to the lobby, there was kind of like a metal gate door that had been bowed in, and the rubble from the lobby... the broken-up rock and marble had jammed itself so I was there with my cat in a carrier kind of trying to push the door open.”