More than 300 people were forced to leave the Petra Ministries building in Penn Hills after a contractor struck a gas line and caused a leak at the former East Hills shopping center on the Penn Hills-Wilkinsburg-Pittsburgh border.

Penn Hills spokeswoman Diane Fitzhenry said about 75 children in a day-care program and 300 others in various programs at the ministry were moved as a precaution. They were taken to Covenant Church in Wilkinsburg on Port Authority buses.

The gas line was broken by a contractor doing preliminary work for construction of a Wal-Mart Super Center and Lowe's home building center at the site. Petra Ministries bought the property and is overseeing the redevelopment effort.

Workers from Dominion Peoples shut off service to the broken line.