6 injured in possible explosion at Newark Housing Authority apartment building
NEWARK, N.J. -- Six people were injured, one critically, in a possible explosion at an apartment building in Newark on Friday.
It happened just after 6 p.m. at a Newark Housing Authority property on South Pine Lane near Stephen Crane Plaza.
The Newark Public Safety director says firefighters responded to a report of a building collapse.
We're told one person refused medical attention and five people were taken to local hospitals. One person suffered serious burns and was last reported to be in critical condition.
As CBS New York's Alecia Reid reports, the building looks like a tornado passed through, but neighbors say the damage is the result of an explosion.
"I just heard boom, and all I saw from the side was glass flying, windows and everything," Newark resident Sylvia Murdaugh said.
Watch Chopper 2 over the scene
"A vibration, a big vibration. I thought right next to me blew up. That's how loud, and I felt a thump," neighbor Toby Marmori said.
Debris was sent flying hundreds of feet away, and shattered glass and windows spread onto the roadway.
"These residents have been smelling gas over the last several months. No one has listened," neighborhood activist Donna Jackson said.
People who live in the area say the first floor of the building was vacant, but there was a tenant on the second floor.
Witnesses saw one man crawling out of the debris from his apartment.
"I seen the guy from the top floor, climbing down from all of that stuff. He's in the hospital now. His legs and stuff were burnt. People that had glass in their face. I seen one guy's face was bleeding," Murdaugh said.
Vanessa Bohler says her daughter was inside her first-floor apartment at the time of the collapse.
"The explosion, it knocked her off her feet, so she was down on the ground, and the neighbors next door, they were taken to the hospital, as well," she said. "The doors are blown off ... The air conditioners are hanging out the window and the doors are just blown off."
Officials are still investigating exactly what happened while providing support to families.
"At this point, we're just trying to assess the structural damage of the building. The city is here, our engineers are here, counselors are here, so we're actually providing support to the Housing Authority now to make sure that families have the opportunity to go to the hotel, to get things out of their apartments if they can," Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said.
The mayor says crews will probably be investigating all night.
The Red Cross is also assisting families that have been displaced.
