4 hurt in Newark when gas explosion tears facade off home
By Jesse Zanger, Naomi Ruchim
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NEWARK, New Jersey (WCBS) — Four people, including two teens and two construction workers, were hurt in a house explosion in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday.
All of the victims all expected to survive.
It happened at around 12:20 p.m. at Magazine Street near Marne Street. Construction workers working on a water line struck a gas line, causing the explosion, which tore the front facade off the home and caused windows to shatter, according to Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda.
Neighbors said the blast shook the entire block and they could smell the gas immediately.
“We heard a loud boom, very loud. The entire building shook,” a woman named Mariana said. “The facade of the house was completely gone. There was a lot of smoke coming out. Everybody was running around.”
She added, “I knew it was an explosion. I didn’t know of what nature. I was scared, startled.”
Video from the scene shows a mound of debris in the street. Resident Angela Villamarin, who lives on the first floor but wasn’t home at the time, returned to find her mattress blown to the porch and her two cats missing.
The neighboring houses were evacuated as a precaution and neighbors stepped in to help one another.
“One of the tenants whose two kids were injured, he just came up to me, he was crying, and so I just was like, ‘How can I help you?'” neighbor Christian Rodriguez said. “And he was telling me he just needs help, he doesn’t know where to go or what to do. So I just brought him over to the Red Cross and helped translate for him.”
The Red Cross is now helping more than a dozen families with food and a place to stay. Over 20 people have been displaced, and it’s unclear when they’ll be able to return.
Authorities also removed roughly 15 dogs from the backyard of a neighboring home.
CBS News New York reached out to PSEG, as well as the company whose name was on the construction equipment, for comment on this incident but has not heard back.
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