Baltimore Explosion Leaves Behind Casualties, Injuries, and Debris

BALTIMORE, KOMPAS.com - One woman is dead, and others remain trapped in debris following a massive Baltimore explosion on Monday morning.

The natural gas explosion has seriously injured six people though firefighters were searching for more survivors.

Dozens of firefighters were dispatched to the scene of the incident where there were piles of rubble surrounding the area.

A fourth house in the row was ripped open, and there were shattered windows in nearby homes.

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The gas explosion has devastated the northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Reisterstown Station that is now strewn with glass and other rubble.

“It’s a disaster. It’s a mess. It’s unbelievable,” said Diane Glover, who lives across the street. Her windows where shattered and her front door was blown open.

“I’m still shaken up,” she said hours later.

Seven people were hospitalized, while a woman was pronounced dead at the scene, the department said on its Twitter page.

Rescuers were painstakingly going through the rubble by hand, prepared to work into the night.

“We’re trying to make sure that we comb through every area to determine if there are any victims inside," Baltimore Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams said at an afternoon news conference.

While the cause wasn’t immediately clear, The Baltimore Sun reported last year that dangerous gas leaks have become much more frequent, with nearly two dozen discovered each day on average, according to the utility’s reports to federal authorities.

The Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. has thousands of miles of obsolete pipes that need to be replaced, an effort that would cost nearly $1 billion and take two decades, the newspaper said.

No gas odors were reported prior to this morning’s event and BGE did not receive any recent gas odor calls from the block of homes that were damaged, it said in a statement late Monday.

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