An explosion at a nursing home collapsed part of the building and left people injured and trapped inside, authorities said. The incident happened on December 23 at Silver Lake Healthcare Center in Bristol Township, just 25 miles north-east of the US city of Philadelphia.
Emergency services from across the region rushed to the scene, alongside earthmoving equipment. A large black plume of smoke could be seen rising from the nursing home in chilling snaps taken at the scene. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear, and it was not immediately known whether there were fatalities. Authorities confirmed people had been injured.
Police Lt. Sean Cosgrove said there were casualties, but he wasn’t aware of any critical injuries. He said: “A lot of the details at this point are still unknown.”
He added residents were evacuated by emergency services, bystanders and staff.
Upper Makefield Township police called the explosion on social media a “mass casualty incident”, as it urged people to avoid the area in Bristol.
Bucks County emergency management officials said to have received report of an explosion at 2.17pm and said a portion of the building was reported to have collapsed.
Ruth Miller, a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokesperson, said her agency had been informed that people were trapped inside.
State representative Tina Davis, who approached the area in her car, described the scene saying: “I saw smoke and I saw car after car after car was a fire truck or ambulance from all over the city, from all over.”
Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said first responders and emergency management officials were describing the incident as a gas explosion, but that won’t be confirmed until his agency can examine the scene up close, explaining investigators from the safety division were headed to the scene.
Nursing home residents would be taken to a reunification center at Truman High School after the forced evacuation.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also spoke about the incident, writing on X: “I’m on my way to the scene of the explosion at Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bucks County to receive a briefing and meet with the brave first responders and law enforcement on the ground. To the Bristol community: I’ve got your back, and I’ll be with you soon.”
Earlier this night he said the scene was “still active” and urged locals to “follow the direction of local authorities”.
