Crews continue to search for survivors in the rubble of a chocolate factory that exploded on Friday in West Reading, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency reported that the number of fatalities rose to five. However, during a news conference Saturday morning, West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag said the death toll remained at two.Eight people were injured. Initially, six people were missing, but Kaag said one person was found alive late Friday night. Crews are continuing to search for the remaining missing people. Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighboring building.“It’s pretty leveled,” Mayor Samantha Kaag said of the explosion site. “The building in the front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it moved that building four feet forward.” The cause of the blast in the community about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia was under investigation, Holden told reporters. Authorities are investigating the possibility that a gas leak may have been responsible, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said.Video below: West Reading Borough police chief says one survivor found in rubble of exploded factoryEight people were taken to Reading Hospital Friday evening, Tower Health spokeswoman Jessica Bezler said.Two people were admitted in fair condition and five were being treated and would be released, she said in an email. One patient was transferred to another facility, but Bezler provided no further details.Video below: Scene from Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion Kaag said people were asked to move back about a block in each direction from the site of the explosion but no evacuations were ordered. Dean Murray, the borough manager of West Reading Borough, said some residents were displaced from the damaged apartment building.Kaag said borough officials were not in immediate contact with officials from R.M. Palmer, which Murray described as “a staple of the borough.”The company’s website says it has been making “chocolate novelties” since 1948 and now has 850 employees at its West Reading headquarters.
Crews continue to search for survivors in the rubble of a chocolate factory that exploded on Friday in West Reading, Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency reported that the number of fatalities rose to five. However, during a news conference Saturday morning, West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag said the death toll remained at two.
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Eight people were injured. Initially, six people were missing, but Kaag said one person was found alive late Friday night. Crews are continuing to search for the remaining missing people.
Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighboring building.
“It’s pretty leveled,” Mayor Samantha Kaag said of the explosion site. “The building in the front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it moved that building four feet forward.”
The cause of the blast in the community about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia was under investigation, Holden told reporters. Authorities are investigating the possibility that a gas leak may have been responsible, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said.
Video below: West Reading Borough police chief says one survivor found in rubble of exploded factory
Eight people were taken to Reading Hospital Friday evening, Tower Health spokeswoman Jessica Bezler said.
Two people were admitted in fair condition and five were being treated and would be released, she said in an email. One patient was transferred to another facility, but Bezler provided no further details.
Video below: Scene from Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion
Kaag said people were asked to move back about a block in each direction from the site of the explosion but no evacuations were ordered.
Dean Murray, the borough manager of West Reading Borough, said some residents were displaced from the damaged apartment building.
Kaag said borough officials were not in immediate contact with officials from R.M. Palmer, which Murray described as “a staple of the borough.”
The company’s website says it has been making “chocolate novelties” since 1948 and now has 850 employees at its West Reading headquarters.
