{"id":652973,"date":"2025-12-24T20:39:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T20:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/652973\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T20:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T20:39:24","slug":"investigators-sift-through-wreckage-after-fatal-nursing-home-explosion-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/652973\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigators sift through wreckage after fatal nursing home explosion in US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Searchers have accounted for everyone who was thought to be missing, Bristol police chief Charles Winik said.<\/p>\n

Two had been reported dead on Tuesday evening, but emergency responders were trying to locate others in hospitals or the wreckage of the Bristol Health & Rehab Centre that exploded hours earlier.<\/p>\n

\"NursingFirst responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Centre, US (Monica Herndon\/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)<\/p>\n

Nineteen people are still in hospital, one in a critical condition, following the blast, he said.<\/p>\n

An investigation into the cause and origin is under way with support from federal agencies, Mr Winik added.<\/p>\n

Authorities did not immediately identify the deceased, but said one was a resident and one was an employee. Both were women, they said.<\/p>\n

The blast at the 174-bed nursing home in Bristol Township, about 20 miles north-east of Philadelphia, happened shortly after a utility crew responded to reports of a gas odour at the facility, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Investigators are examining whether a gas leak caused the explosion, a finding officials cautioned remains preliminary.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, workers were using heavy equipment to clear sections of the collapsed roof and walls to help investigators gain better access, Mr Winik said.<\/p>\n

\"NursingFirst responders on the scene of a fire after an explosion at a nursing home in Bristol Township, US (AP)<\/p>\n

Emergency responders from across the region had evacuated residents and dug through debris amid flames, smoke, a strong smell of gas and even a second explosion, officials said.<\/p>\n

The town\u2019s fire chief, Kevin Dippolito, described a chaotic rescue in which firefighters found people trapped in stairwells and lift shafts and pulled residents from windows and doors. Two people were rescued from a collapsed section of the building and one was resuscitated at hospital.<\/p>\n

Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was watching a basketball game when he heard a loud boom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house,\u201d he said. When he went outside, he saw \u201cfire everywhere\u201d and people fleeing the building.<\/p>\n

The local gas utility, Peco, said its crews were responding to reports of a gas odour when the explosion occurred. The company said it shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to protect first responders and nearby residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not known at this time if Peco\u2019s equipment, or natural gas, was involved in this incident,\u201d the utility said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Investigators from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission went to the scene. A utility commission spokesperson said a determination that a gas leak caused the explosion cannot be confirmed until investigators examine the site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Searchers have accounted for everyone who was thought to be missing, Bristol police chief Charles Winik said. Two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-652973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115776480242114967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}