A massive explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania (USA) that occurred this Friday afternoon has killed two people and missing five, authorities said this Saturday. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency originally said there had been five deaths, but local authorities later assured the AP they could only confirm two deaths until the missing people were found. The blast happened just before 5pm on Friday at the RM Palmer Co. plant in West Reading Township.
Police Chief Wayne Holben said the blast destroyed a building and injured another neighbor. “It’s pretty devastated,” Mayor Samantha Kaag said in statements collected by The Associated Press about the location of the blast. “The building in front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it pushed the building five feet forward,” he added.
The cause of the blast in the community about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia is under investigation, Holden told reporters. Eight people were taken to Reading hospital in the same incident on Friday night, Tower Health spokeswoman Jessica Bezler said. Two people were admitted in good condition and five would be treated and discharged. One patient was transferred to another center, but Bezler gave no further details.
Kaag said people were told to retreat about a block in each direction from the blast site, but no evacuations were ordered. West Reading Borough City Manager Dean Murray said some residents had been evicted from the damaged apartment building.
A video broadcast and tweeted from the local FOX station in Philadelphia shows the violence of the explosion.
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Kagg said city officials had no direct contact with employees of RM Palmer, who Murray described as “a staple of the city.” The company’s website says it has been making “chocolate novelties” since 1948 and now employs 850 people at its West Reading headquarters.
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