Baltimore blast levels homes, kills at least one

Baltimore blast levels homes, kills at least one

[NFA] A gas explosion ripped through a Baltimore neighborhood on Monday, killing at least one person, injuring four and trapping children as the blast destroyed at least three homes.

Lisa Bernhard produced this report.

A major gas explosion ripped through a Baltimore neighborhood Monday, killing at least one person and injuring four - with firefighters still searching for others amid the rubble.

Blair Adams is Public Information Officer of the Baltimore Fire Department.

"It was just before 10 this morning when the fire department responded for a report of some sort of explosion... involving a total of three homes.” At one point at least five people were trapped, some of them children, the Baltimore Firefighters union said on Twitter.

Rescuers picked through the wreckage searching for victims. Neighborhood resident Antoinetta Parrish ran to the scene after hearing a boom that shook her house.

“What I saw was houses flattened and I could hear my neighbors yelling, ‘I’m in here – help, help!’ And me and four other guys – a coupla more, I lost count – we’re out there throwing bricks and debris just trying to get to them.

We could hear like a ‘Ssssss’ and we were like, ‘That’s gas, we need to move,' but they didn't care, they just kept throwing blocks.

My heart and everything just dropped, my anxiety went up ten notches.

It was just something I never want to see again.” Another witness told the Baltimore Sun one person was found buried from the neck down and another sheltering in a closet.

Fire officials described the blast as a natural gas explosion but said the exact cause is under investigation.