Demolition begins at site of Newark apartment building explosion
NEW YORK - An explosion rocked a Newark Housing Authority property Friday evening, leaving a section of the Stephen Crane Housing Complex in ruins.
Demolition excavators tore away what was left of the housing complex Saturday afternoon.
A blue tarp now covers the exposed section of the building, and a newly erected fence blocks anyone from entering the adjacent apartments that have been red-tagged.
While authorities are calling it a building collapse, video shows an explosion at the apartment building on South Pine Lane around 6 p.m. Friday.
"I was scared, nervous. I didn't know what it was," one person said.
"I was holding my ear. My ear was ringing so loud," another person said.
When neighbors heard a sudden boom, some took off running. Windows were sent flying, leaving shards of glass littered across a parking lot as far as 50 yards away. Witnesses say several people were trapped under the debris.
Six were injured and taken to nearby hospitals.
Neighbors say a man named Mario was critically injured and crawled out of the debris.
"He must've been in shock or whatever, but he was walking and screaming in pain as he was walking. It was, it was tough," neighbor Toby Marmorino said.
Marmorino, who says he's a childhood friend of Mario's, says the victim is in an induced coma.
"Maybe for three to six weeks. He's got 43 percent burns on his body," Marmorino said. "His whole life is gone. His mother, who lived there, all her stuff is gone. Thank God she wasn't in the house."
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Neighbors say they'd been smelling gas during recent construction on the building.
"It wasn't a coincidence," Marmorino said.
"These residents have been smelling gas over the last several months. No one has listened," neighborhood activist Donna Jackson said Friday.
Neighbor John McLaurin says he didn't smell any gas on Friday, however.
"If it's a gas leak, you gonna smell it. It ain't gonna go away because the building blew up. You know, you're gonna smell. I didn't smell any gas," he said.
Those displaced have taken up lodging at a nearby hotel.
"The American Red Cross is helping 12 families, approximately 31 people, who are affected by the explosion here in Newark," spokesperson Diane Concannon said.
The group is working to replace important belongings residents left inside, like prescription eyeglasses and medications.
We're told the Newark Housing Authority will also help provide more permanent housing.
Some families returned to the scene in hopes of retrieving valuables only to see rubble scooped away.
PSE&G told CBS New York they sent crews to shut off gas to make the area safe. They referred all other questions to the city of Newark.
Mayor Ras Baraka said the investigation into what caused the blast is still ongoing.
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