[h=3]Associated Press[/h]SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—A natural-gas explosion damaged 42 homes and businesses in western Massachusetts' largest city, building inspectors assessing the damage said.
The Friday-evening explosion in Springfield leveled a strip club next to a day care and injured 18 people, many of them emergency workers. Their injuries aren't life-threatening.
The explosion occurred an hour after gas company workers arrived to investigate a possible gas leak in the area, which is 90 miles west of Boston.
Authorities cordoned off the center of the explosion Saturday. Building inspectors said preliminary findings showed that the blast damaged 42 buildings that include 115 residential units. Three buildings were immediately condemned.
Punta Cana restaurant manager Omar Fermin says the explosion shattered the business's floor-to-ceiling windows and made the area look like an earthquake zone.
The Friday-evening explosion in Springfield leveled a strip club next to a day care and injured 18 people, many of them emergency workers. Their injuries aren't life-threatening.
The explosion occurred an hour after gas company workers arrived to investigate a possible gas leak in the area, which is 90 miles west of Boston.
Authorities cordoned off the center of the explosion Saturday. Building inspectors said preliminary findings showed that the blast damaged 42 buildings that include 115 residential units. Three buildings were immediately condemned.
Punta Cana restaurant manager Omar Fermin says the explosion shattered the business's floor-to-ceiling windows and made the area look like an earthquake zone.