An explosion tore through a hotel near SeaWorld San Diego where a couple was allegedly extracting hash oil, sending guests fleeing for safety and putting three people in the hospital, authorities said.
A 22-year-old man in the room suffered life-threatening injuries in the Wednesday explosion at the three-story Heritage Inn Sea World Hotel, authorities said. Also hurt were a woman in the room and a young man staying next door.
Julie Jordan of San Diego was sleeping with a friend’s baby in a nearby room when she felt the building shake violently, then heard a loud explosion. She ran outside and saw a shattered window and a badly injured man sitting at the bottom of some stairs, she said.
“There was chaos. I was very confused. When I came out of the room, I didn’t know which way to turn,” she said.
Another guest, Joseph Tydingco, said “It was like a disaster zone in there.”
Investigators found several boxes containing canisters of butane inside the room where the blast occurred, police Lt. Joseph Ramos said.
The butane apparently was ignited by a cigarette, Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque said. The second-floor room looked like a “war zone,” he said.
“It was a very intense and devastating explosion,” Luque said.
Hash oil is made by packing finely ground stems and leaves of marijuana plants in a pipe and pouring butane through it, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which is leading the investigation. The liquid typically is then cooked on a stove to separate the butane.
Hash oil averages about 15 percent THC, the chief intoxicant in marijuana, according to the DEA. A drop or two is about as potent as a marijuana cigarette.