New England strip club flattened by gas blast that looked like 'missile strike'
A strip club was levelled, a dozen other buildings damaged and 18 people injured when a natural gas explosion ripped through a Massachusetts town.
The debris left a large hole in the ground where the multi-story brick building housing the popular strip club once stood Photo: Jessica Hill/AP
By Philip Sherwell, and AP
8:13PM GMT 24 Nov 2012
A New England strip club has been flattened and more than 10 other buildings badly damaged when a natural gas explosion ripped through the Massachusetts city of Springfield. 18 people were injured in the blast.
"This is a miracle... that no one was killed," said Tim Murray, Massachusetts lieutenant governor. It looked as though there had been "a missile strike," said Sgt John Delaney of Springfield police.
Strippers and customers had earlier been evacuated from Scores Gentleman's Club because of a gas leak. The injured included firefighters, police officers and gas company workers investigating that leak.
The debris left a large hole in the ground where the multi-story brick building housing the popular strip club once stood. Debris was scattered over several nearby streets as smoke billowed overhead and terrified local residents fled into the street.
The blast blew out all windows in a three-street radius, leaving three more buildings beyond repair and prompting emergency workers to evacuate a six-story apartment building that was buckling.
Wayne Davis, a US navy veteran who felt his apartment building shake a street away, said the boom was louder than anything he had heard serving in the military, including the roar of a jet landing on an aircraft carrier.
Buildings inspectors assessed damage to other buildings on Saturday morning and were expected to order controlled demolitions. Investigators are trying to establish the cause of the leak and blast.
