2 May Be Charged In Drug Lab Blast

The two people police say are responsible for an explosion at an illegal methamphetamine lab will likely be charged today, officials said.

There have been no arrests in Saturday’s explosion that resulted in the brief hospitalization of two men, the evacuation of 32 people from the Elm Valley Apartments and the closure of the emergency room at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup for about seven hours.

The Sumner Police Department will seek charges of manufacturing a controlled substance with intent to sell against two men who were hospitalized briefly, Lt. Russ Clary said Sunday.

Neighbors told police that four people lived in the apartment where the lab explosion occurred early Saturday morning.

Police said the people in the apartment had been mixing a combination of household chemicals that can be combined with other ingredients to make the drug known as “crank” or “speed.”

The Good Samaritan Hospital emergency room was closed after a 31-year-old man drove himself in his own car with second-degree burns over 5 percent of his body.

He told hospital officials he had been burned in a car fire.

As doctors and nurses treated him, they were hit by nausea, breathing problems and watery eyes.