A booming gas explosion leveled a multifamily building in Wappingers Falls Thursday, injuring 15 people — including two children, officials said.
First responders dug through rubble to help survivors as flames were still shooting from the collapsed building and surrounding area, authorities said, according to reports.
Eight adults, two kids and five first responders were injured in the powerful explosion that happened around 12:15 p.m. in the Dutchess County community. The cause appears to be from a gas leak, police reportedly said.
At least two adults and one child were airlifted to Westchester Medical Center, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.
One of the ten victims was trapped from the waist down in the debris and another from the chest down, the newspaper reported.
The two-story structure destroyed is a multifamily building. Other nearby homes were charred by the raging fire.
Multiple fire and police departments rushed to the location.
“All of a sudden the house shook,” neighbor Marcie Ward told ABC 7. “I thought maybe something hit the house … I didn’t know what it was.”
Central Hudson said preliminarily a contractor for the power company struck a three-fourths gas line that sparked the blast, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.
The exact cause of the explosion is still being investigated.
A woman who lives across the street told CBS 2 her mother was home at the time and said the windows were blown out and the front door flew open.
“She looked out and the other building was gone,” the neighbor said.