Survivors run from house following gas explosion that killed one person

An apparent gas explosion at a house in northern New Jersey killed one person and injured 15 others on Wednesday morning. Another person remained trapped in the house following the blast, according to NBC4.

The explosion happened on the second floor, and the mayor described it as gas related. Some of the residents smelled gas in the neighborhood a few minutes or a few hours before that. “During the initial investigation, during the initial walk-through and the start of the shoring up of the building there’s been no visible sign of propane at this time”, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said.

The blast damaged seven homes, and three would need to be demolished, Bollwage said.

The names and ages of the victims weren’t immediately released.

Authorities said the home was legal, up to code and had been built in the last eight years.

Elizabethtown Gas spokesman Duane Bourne says a preliminary investigation hasn’t linked the explosion to a natural gas leak, but the investigation is ongoing.

The explosion occurred in a two-family duplex on Magnolia Avenue around 8 a.m. Wednesday.

The two homes adjacent to the home that exploded will also be torn down, as they have been “blown off their foundations”, Fire Chief Tom McNamara told reporters Wednesday.

Photos posted to social media from the scene show the home reduced to rubble.