VIDEO: Gas tank explosion levels house, leaves three injured
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A gas tank explosion leveled a home, left three people injured and damaged several cars and nearby homes early Thursday in Juarez, Mexico.
A video obtained by a KTSM/Border Report camera crew shows police sifting through the rubble and pulling a survivor caught under cinder blocks and concrete and carrying her to an ambulance following the explosion shortly after midnight. Neighbors also can be seen comforting residents whose homes were damaged. A mother and her two teenage daughters suffered burns and bruises.
The extent of the damages became evident after sunrise, with collapsed walls and doors and windows blown off. A parked car appeared to have been blown onto a wrought-iron fence.
Juarez Fire Chief Sergio Rodriguez told reporters the explosion damaged five homes, a business, and six parked cars. The youngest of the injured was in serious condition at a hospital due to extensive burns in her arms and legs. Rodriguez estimated the damages at 5 million pesos ($300,000).
A preliminary investigation attributed the explosion to an accumulation of gas from a leaky gas tank – presumably propane – used in the home for heating and cooking.
(ProVideo in Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.)