Hutchinson ? Dillon Companies Inc. has filed a lawsuit against two companies linked to gas explosions in Hutchinson last year.

The grocery store chain recently filed a five-count suit against Tulsa-based ONEOK Inc. and Mid Continent Market Center seeking more than $75,000 in damages for losses allegedly incurred in January 2001.

ONEOK is the parent company of Kansas Gas Service, and Mid Continent Market Center operates the Yaggy gas storage field northwest of Hutchinson that leaked more than 143 million cubic feet of natural gas into the ground.

The gas erupted in Hutchinson, causing two explosions that resulted in the deaths of two people and destroyed two downtown buildings and a mobile home.

The lawsuit, filed two weeks ago in Sedgwick County District Court, claims the Dillons warehouse and the company’s Jackson Ice Cream plant were forced to close because of the gas explosions and geysers.

It alleges ONEOK ignored consultant recommendations to install double casing liners in gas wells at Yaggy when the field was reopened to store natural gas.

The suit also claims ONEOK operated the S-1 gas storage well at pressures higher than its state permit allowed, and failed to conduct tests that would have revealed the presence of a leak at Yaggy.

ONEOK spokeswoman Andrea Chancellor said ONEOK attorneys received the lawsuit Dec. 2.

“We’re going through the details of it,” she said. “We have about 20 days to file a response. We don’t have all the details yet.”

Dillons spokesman Dennis Gaschler said the company “was disappointed” that a lawsuit was necessary to resolve the claim against ONEOK.