A man who witnessed the explosion tells TVA Nouvelles about the horror that unfolded in front of him as he watched helplessly.
• Also read: [PHOTOS] Explosion at a propane gas supplier: employees are missing
Jonathan Marquis was in a vehicle at the time of the explosion that blew up a commercial building in Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan in Lanaudière on Thursday morning.
Then he stopped to go to the site of the explosion.
“It jumped in front of me. I was driving, there was a building and the building exploded,” he told TVA Nouvelles.
Photos: Pierre Laurent/ Agency QMI
The man watched in horror as the roof collapsed while people were still inside.
“The whole roof collapsed because of the screams, people screamed, the whole roof collapsed and after that there was no sound,” he claims.
Given the force of the fire that followed the blast, the few brave men who stopped to help were forced to turn back.
“We could hear the propane tanks popping, all the little explosions, and then it was hot, we had no choice but to walk away, there was nothing we could do, it’s really gross,” testifies Jonathan Marquess.
Photo agency QMI, Pierre Laurent
Three people are missing after the explosion at Propane Lafortune, a company at Rang de la Rivière Nord in Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan.
Citizens within a kilometer radius of the building were evacuated as a precaution.