3 dead, 5 missing after explosion at Pennsylvania chocolate factory

An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed three people and left five people missing, authorities said. One person was pulled alive from the rubble overnight.

Rescue crews using dogs and imaging equipment continued to search through the rubble on Saturday — hours after the blast that erupted just before 5 p.m. local time on Friday at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in the borough of West Reading, northwest of Philadelphia.

The Berks County Medical Examiner and Coroner on Saturday night confirmed three fatalities. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency had earlier said there were five fatalities, citing county emergency management officials.

Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the rescue of one person from the rubble "provides hope that others still may be found."

Rescue workers were continuing a thorough search using specialized equipment and techniques. Officials said dogs and imaging equipment were being used to look for signs of life during the careful removal of debris.

Holben said the blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighbouring building. The cause remains under investigation, he said.

"It's pretty levelled," West Reading Borough Mayor Samantha Kaag said of the explosion site.

"The building in the front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it moved that building four feet [1.2 metres] forward."

A spokesperson for UGI Utilities said crews were brought in after damage from the blast led to the release of gas that was helping to feed the fire.

"We did not receive any calls regarding a gas leak or gas order prior to the incident, but we are co-operating with the investigation, and part of that will be to check all our facilities in the vicinity," UGI spokesperson Joseph Swope said on Saturday..

Company 'devastated'

R.M. Palmer Co, said in a statement late Saturday afternoon that everyone at the company was "devastated by the tragic events" and "focused on supporting our employees and their families."

"We have lost close friends and colleagues, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of all who have been impacted," the company said, expressing gratitude to the "extraordinary efforts" of first responders and the support of the Reading community, "which has been home to our business for more than 70 years."

R.M. Palmer said it was anxious to get in touch with its employees and their families. But its email, phones and other communication systems were down, and it was relying on first responders and disaster recovery organizations to provide information to affected families. The company said it would be "providing additional information and making contact with employees, impacted families, and the community as soon as possible."

Reading Hospital said Saturday afternoon that it had received 10 patients, and of those, one was transferred to Lehigh Valley Hospital and another to Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center. Two were admitted to Reading Hospital in good and fair condition, respectively, and the others had been discharged, officials said.

Kaag, the borough mayor, said people were asked to move back about a block in each direction from the site of the explosion, but no evacuations were ordered. She had issued an emergency declaration only to allow more resources for first responders. Dean Murray, the manager of West Reading Borough, said some residents were displaced from the damaged apartment building.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who visited the site on Saturday along with the emergency management agency director, vowed "any and all commonwealth resources needed to support ongoing recovery efforts — in addition to the extensive assets that have already been deployed."

A team of structural engineers and K-9s from a state urban search-and-rescue task force had been assisting since Friday night, and additional personnel arrived Saturday, he said. A state police fire marshal was also assisting in the investigation, he said.

Philip Wert, vice-president of the West Reading council, said the building had been constructed in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and officials had to "access our archive to pull the blueprints last night, in order to get a better layout of the building and the mechanicals and the utilities, where things are."

"The silver lining in all this is someone was found alive, someone was found alive that was in rubble, not knowing whether they were going to live or die, and fortunately we found that person and they've got a second chance — and hopefully, fingers crossed, we're going to find more," he said.

'Like a bomb went off'

Doug Olexy was home from work and checking email when the blast shook his house, rattling windows and making the walls vibrate.

"It sounded like a bomb went off," he recalled Saturday. "I mean, all of our houses shook. I've never heard as loud of an explosion in my life."

He and his neighbours ran out onto the street immediately afterward and were met by thick black smoke.

At first, Olexy thought it was a train derailment because there are tracks nearby. Then he learned it was the Palmer plant, which he called a West Reading institution.

"Everybody knows Palmer chocolate," he said.

R.M. Palmer's website says it has been making "chocolate novelties" since 1948 and now has 850 employees at its West Reading headquarters. Its Facebook page includes entries earlier this month advertising Easter treats, such as chocolate bunnies and "the newest milk chocolate hollow" in its "bunny family" with jelly beans inside.

The company is by no means the region's best-known chocolate manufacturer, with Hershey Co. less than an hour to the west.