(WXYZ) — The preliminary hearing for a man who is charged in the deadly Clinton Township explosion last year will begin on Thursday.
Noor Noel Kestou, 31, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the explosion from March 2024 at a building in Clinton Township.
Watch below: Past coverage from the Clinton Township explosion in 2024
Investigators say that the building, owned and operated by Kestou, exploded because of thousands of cans of Nitrous oxide and butane stored in the building.A 19-year-old man died in that explosion after being struck in the head by a Nitrous oxide canister. The explosion happened in March.
Kestou was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport weeks after the explosion. He was reportedly planning to depart for Hong Kong on a one-way ticket.
The EPA began cleanup on the site in August 2024, and officials say the cleanup was completed on Dec. 4, 2024, which included final disposal of waste materials to an EPA-approved facility.
In total, the EPA said there were 28,295 DOT-compromised aluminum and steel nitrous oxide compressed gas cylinders intact and fire-damaged. They were degassed, devalved and were recycled.
The final numbers of material cleaned up included:
- 857 tons of construction and demolition debris
- 7,253 tons of ferrous metal and 33,780 tons of non-ferrous metal were recycled.
- 174,051 (DDR damaged, defective or recalled) lithium-ion batteries were recycled.
- 12 lead acid batteries.
- 28,295 aluminum and steel nitrous oxide (N20) compressed gas cylinders were degassed, devalved and were recycled.
- 73 55-gallon drums containing 14,980 pounds of waste, nicotine compounds, liquids [or] nicotine preparations, liquid, n.o.s. (Lithium hydroxide)
- 12 drums (6,600 pounds) of nitrous oxide (N20) cream chargers (also known as whip-its)
- 4 drums (320 pounds) of waste, butane petroleum gases, liquefied.
- 12 drums (4,858 pounds) of lighters containing flammable liquid.
- 11 drums (4,400 pounds) of non-hazardous, non-regulated material (non-RCRA cleaner).
- 1 drum (400 pounds )of non-hazardous, non-regulated material (coil and antifreeze).
