SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR) – A dozen people, the youngest just 9 months old, are recovering after a home collapsed in Syracuse, New York, following an apparent gas explosion on Tuesday.
Emergency units were first called around 4 p.m. EDT and were quick to perform search and rescue efforts. Adults and children were rescued, with 10 taken to the hospital, Syracuse Fire Chief Michael Monds told Nexstar’s WSYR on Tuesday. Eight were taken in advanced life support ambulances.
Initially, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said a family of seven lived in the house, and a family of six was visiting them at the time of the incident. All of those people were accounted for, authorities said.
On Wednesday, the Syracuse Fire Department provided status updates on both families during a press briefing, which you can watch below.
Two young members of the first family, a 9-month-old and a 2-year-old, are in critically stable condition. Three other members — a 34-year-old man, a 29-year-old woman, and a 5-year-old — are in stable condition. A 4-year-old child was not admitted to the hospital.
A 3-year-old from the second family is in critically stable condition as of Wednesday morning. The remaining family members — a 42-year-old man, a 33-year-old woman, and four children, ages 8, 10, 12, and 13 — are all in stable condition.
Emergency crews worked into the night, sweeping through the rubble with specially trained search dogs to ensure no additional victims were trapped beneath the debris.
Authorities haven’t confirmed what caused the collapse. The chief said a car, with a child inside, was found underneath some of the rubble. The car was not believed to have caused the incident, but was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Authorities are now investigating the incident.
