Two people have died and nine are missing after an explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania.
Key points:
- The explosion destroyed the factory and damaged a nearby building
- The cause of the blast is being investigated
- Eight people were taken to Reading Hospital
West Reading Borough Police Department Chief Wayne Holben said several other people were injured by the explosion at the RM Palmer Co plant.
The explosion, just before 5pm on Friday local time, sent a plume of black smoke into the air, destroying one building and damaging a neighbouring building.
Footage captured by a nearby news weather camera showed flames erupting and debris being thrown into the air as the building explodes.
“It’s pretty levelled,” West Reading Borough Mayor Samantha Kaag said.
“The building in the front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it moved that building four feet forward.”
The cause of the blast in the community about 96 kilometres north-west of Philadelphia was under investigation, Chief Holden said.
Eight people were taken to Reading Hospital on Friday evening, Tower Health spokeswoman Jessica Bezler said,
Ms Kaag said people were asked to move back about a block in each direction from the site of the explosion but no evacuations were ordered.
Dean Murray, the borough manager of West Reading Borough, said some residents were displaced from the damaged apartment building.
The company’s website says it has been making “chocolate novelties” since 1948 and now has 850 employees at its West Reading headquarters.
AP