Kansas City Manager Troy Schulte says 14 people have been injured. He said officials don't yet know if there were any fatalities, but cadaver dogs are searching the blast site.
Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi said the search for victims could take hours.
"I would always fear there are fatalities in a scene like this," Berardi said during a news conference Tuesday night. "When we got to the scene, we had a fully involved restaurant that had patrons, probably several patrons, inside at the time of incident."
Fire spokesman James Garrett said earlier that two people had suffered life-threatening injuries.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the blast, which appeared to have engulfed an entire block in flames. Police spokeswoman Rhonda Flores said while initially the explosion was attributed to a motor vehicle striking a natural gas line, the blast may have been triggered by a piece of heavy equipment disrupting the gas main.
"Some witnesses have said it might have been a construction worker on a backhoe doing construction in the area," Flores said. "We're still waiting for final word on that."
Berardi said officials don't suspect foul play at this time.
Three people are unaccounted for at JJ's Restaurant at Country Club Plaza, which was engulfed in flames, police said. The manager did not immediately know whether they had left before the explosion about 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET).
The four-alarm blaze burned for about 90 minutes. Flores said it "appears to be contained."
14 hurt in Kansas City gas blast
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