THE NEW YORK TIMES – Two explosions at a nursing home northeast of Philadelphia killed a resident and an employee, and injured 20 others, officials said Tuesday.
The explosions at the Bristol Health and Rehab Center in Bristol Township, Pa., also known as Silver Lake Nursing Home, resulted in a large fire and caused the building to collapse, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and other officials said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Officials had initially said five people were missing after the explosions, but late Tuesday, Chief Charles Winik Jr. of the Bristol Police said they were all accounted for, and the rescue effort had ended. But the investigation into the episode is ongoing, Chief Winik said.
The first blast came around 2:15 p.m., and firefighters rescued people stuck in elevator shafts, stairwells and a collapsed basement, Chief Dippolito said. “There was one police officer who literally threw two people over his shoulders and ran with people to help,” he said. Residents in the area also quickly gathered at the scene to offer assistance, he added.
Shortly after the firefighters rescued the people they found, there was a second explosion, the chief said. Heavy machinery, dogs and sonar equipment are being used to continue searching the rubble.
On Tuesday evening, faint smoke still drifted over the site of the blasts and the quiet neighboring blocks of ranch-style homes. Firefighters milled on and around what remained of the nursing home building, while construction equipment idled.
Evidence of the rushed evacuation remained in the surrounding area, with a wheelchair abandoned beside a tree in a front yard and hospital beds lined up in a nearby parking lot.
There were remnants of the blasts as far as several blocks away from the nursing home …
