(AP) — At least nine people have been hospitalized and others could be trapped after an explosion and partial building collapse at an Omaha animal feed processing plant.

Interim Omaha Fire Chief Bernie Kanger (KANG’-ur) said Monday that nine workers have been sent to hospitals. He says firefighters are searching the building for anyone who may have been trapped by the blast or the falling debris. He declined to comment on possible fatalities.

Family members who have gathered outside the International Nutrition plant say they’ve received cellphone calls from their loved ones inside who told them one or two people may be missing or trapped.

The fire and explosion were reported at 10 a.m. Plant officials declined to comment to The Associated Press.

(AP) — Police say a potential suicide jumper who scaled a bridge between Nebraska and Iowa has come down.

The man climbed the Veterans Memorial Bridge around 6 p.m. Sunday. The bridge carries U.S. Highways 77 and 20 traffic between South Sioux City, Neb., and Sioux City, Iowa. Officers shut off bridge traffic for 15 to 20 minutes.

Sgt. Mike Hamm says the man came down willingly and was taken to UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s hospital in Sioux City.

(AP) — Authorities say fire code violations have forced the banning of residents from a fraternity house at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Fire Capt. Jim Bopp says a suspicious liquid was found in the Sigma Nu basement on Sunday afternoon, and there was a haze throughout the house when firefighters responded to an alarm.

UNL vice chancellor for student affairs Juan Franco says the house was a mess and that the frat likely will face university discipline. Several bottles of alcohol were found inside the house.

The 50 or so frat members are banned from the house until the code violations are corrected.

Some of the students have moved in with family and friends in Lincoln, and Franco says the university also offered the frat members some university housing in campus dorms.

(AP) — A 17-year-old boy is hospitalized in critical condition at an Omaha hospital after a skiing accident in western Iowa.

The boy was hurt Sunday in an accident at the Mt. Crescent Ski Area near Honey Creek, Iowa.

The 17-year-old was flown to an Omaha hospital for treatment.

Officials did not immediately identify the boy.

(AP) — Omaha police are looking for two sisters who have been missing since Friday evening.

Police say 12-year-old Zianne Sysel and 10-year-old Lakeisha Sysel were last seen at their home in north Omaha around 8 p.m. Friday.

Zianne Sysel is 5-foot-5-inches-tall and weighs 130 pounds.

Lakeisha Sysel is 5-foot-6-inches-tall and also weighs about 130 pounds.

Police are asking anyone with information about the girls to call 402-444-5818.

(AP) — A car fleeing from a hit-and-run crash in north Omaha smashed into another vehicle, leaving one person dead.

Omaha police say the incident began early Sunday when a Mercury Sable struck a Dodge Charger and then drove away. The driver of the Charger followed in an attempt to get a license plate number.

After traveling a short distance, the Mercury ran a stop sign and hit a Jeep Cherokee, causing both vehicles to veer into a yard. The Jeep rolled onto its roof.

The driver of the Jeep was killed.

Police say five people were in the Mercury, and the driver and a passenger ran away. The three others were taken to hospitals for treatment of minor injuries.

Police didn’t release names of those involved.

 

(AP) — A Nebraska man has died after he lost control of his minivan on a gravel road.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s office says the accident happened around 10:30 p.m. Saturday in a rural northeastern part of the county on North 162nd Street.

Authorities say 55-year-old Daniel Benkusky of Ceresco lost control of his minivan, and it rolled into a field near Agnew Road.

Benkusky wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and he was thrown from the van. He died at the scene.

The sheriff’s office says alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

(AP) — Five of the six people wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the 1985 slaying of a Beatrice woman have testified in court about the struggles they endured in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.

Debra Shelden, James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Ada JoAnn Taylor and Thomas Winslow all testified Thursday and Friday in federal court as part of their lawsuits against Gage County and various law enforcement officials. The sixth, Joseph White, died in 2011 in a work-related accident.

Later Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf dismissed the case against Gage County and other defendants, but said the case could go forward against Deputy Burdette Searcey, part-time Deputy Wayne Price and the estate of then-Sheriff Jerry DeWitt, all parties involved in the investigation.

(AP) — A teenager has died in one-vehicle crash just east of Winnebago in northeastern Nebraska.

The Nebraska State Patrol says the crash happened Friday, killing 19-year-old Bryson Bearskin of Winnebago.

Investigators say Bearskin was driving a minivan when it left a county road and rolled. Authorities say Bearskin was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the van.

No one else was in the van at the time of the crash.