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Witness: "You could hear a loud blast and you saw the front of the building blown off. You know, there was silence for a few seconds, people started crawling out from under the wreckage, and people started crawling out from the building and running around crazed." Deborah DeJoie, Danbury: "At first it sounded like thunder, and then when we heard the sirens we came out and there was a house on the ground." Several families lived in the hearts above, many had to be rescued by firefighters. Ten people were taken to the hospital. Mayor Gene Eriquez, Danbury: "We've actually had to evacuate some of the adjoining properties, and so many of the families have been moved to the war memorial, which is a temporary shelter."
"The smoke made it difficult to see what we were doing."
Just after 11:00, one other victim was pulled from the rubble. He was later pronounced dead. His identity has not been released. The cause of the explosion has not been determined. ©1999 WTNH/WTNH-DT |
One dead, Eleven injured in explosion at package store
It happened just before 5:00 pm. An explosion blew out Venancio's Wine & Liquor Store and the apartments above it. It was blown into the road.
The gas was turned off, and many people lost power, but the main concern was for a man pinned under the rubble. After three hours of digging, the victim was pulled free of the rubble and taken to the hospital. Firefighters described to News Channel 8's Christina DeFranco what conditions were like.