The Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel, which was scheduled to open in December, suffered serious damages after an explosion hit it this Monday. The hotel was under construction and 14 of the 400 workers who were there when the explosion occurred were injured, five of them critically. Maurice Luque, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department’s spokesman said that the explosion appeared to be accidental.

Some of the witness’ first thought was that the explosion had something to do with a terrorist attack. For example, Matt McBride, the general manager of the Tin Fish bar, which is placed 150 away from the hotel, said about the explosion, according to the MercuryNews.com: "It shook the whole building like a bomb. The reverb was what scared us. Everybody was saying bomb, bomb, bomb, terrorist, terrorist, terrorist."

Parts of the Hilton hotel’s facade, which is on Harbor Drive near the San Diego Convention Center, were ripped off. Mayor Jerry Sanders said that four floors were damager, from four to seven. The area was immediately surrounded by firefighters and utility crews. Perry Peake, the San Diego Deputy Fire-Rescue Chief said that the blast appeared to be caused by a mechanical failure or gas.

Three of the workers injured in the explosion were seriously burned and were placed into medically induced comas. Some were taken to the UCSD Medical Center burn unit and others were treated at Scripps Mercy Hospital. Dr. Bruce Potenza, who runs the burn unit said that time was the only one to tell whether all patients would survive or not. "They talked about a bright light and an intense heat," Potenza said.

The Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel which will have 1,190 rooms and at least 165,000 square feet of meeting space was due to open in December. Now, Karima Zaki, the vice president for new development for Hilton Hotels Corp. said that she didn’t know whether the hotel’s opening date will remain the same.