Two people died in two consecutive explosions, followed by a fire, at a nursing home near the US city of Philadelphia on Sunday, Reuters reported. The blasts are believed to have been caused by a gas leak, BTA reported.
A staff member and one resident of the home were killed, and 20 people were injured, officials said.
All residents and staff at the Silver Lake nursing home in Bristol have been identified, and the injured have been transported to local hospitals, said Police Chief Charles Winnick.
According to him, there was no information about the people in the building for several hours until the flames were extinguished. Kevin Dippolito of the Bucks County Fire Department said that initially many residents and employees were trapped in a collapsed part of the building.
The Bucks County Emergency Coordination Center received the first reports of an explosion shortly after 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (9:00 p.m. Bulgarian Time), Dippolito said. He added that the first firefighters to arrive at the scene found a "massive collapse" with part of the first floor falling into the basement below.
He said many victims had been pulled from the rubble - from blocked staircases and stuck elevators - while firefighters entered the collapsed part of the basement and brought at least two more people to safety before withdrawing due to residual gas fumes.
The front of the building was hit by an internal explosion, but most of the structure did not collapse, although most of the windows were completely broken.
According to a local television channel, which quoted a nurse working at the facility, the building usually accommodates more than 50 patients aged between 50 and 95.