An explosion ripped through a Pennsylvania nursing home Tuesday, killing at least two and leaving others trapped inside.
The incident happened in the early afternoon at Bristol Health & Rehab Center near Philadelphia, the Associated Press reported.
The facility is also known as Silver Lake Nursing Home, WPVI-TV reported.
The Philadelphia Electric Company, PECO, had dispatched crews to the site around 2:00 pm after receiving reports of a smell of gas.
A woman who works at the center told WPVI she had “flagged a gas smell over the weekend.”
Emergency crews from other counties and even across state lines in New Jersey responded to what officials termed a “mass casualty incident.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed at least two deaths in the disaster, the Associated Press reported.
Shapiro said multiple people were injured and multiple people remained missing several hours after the incident, according to WCAU-TV.
I’m on my way to the scene of the explosion at Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bucks County to receive a briefing and meet with the brave first responders and law enforcement on the ground.
To the Bristol community: I’ve got your back, and I’ll be with you soon. https://t.co/RZHS95YJYE
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) December 23, 2025
WPVI put the number of injured people at 21 and said five people “remain unaccounted for,” but Shapiro “cautioned that the numbers remain preliminary.”
The news service quoted Ruth Miller, a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency representative, as saying a portion of the building had collapsed in the explosion and people had been reported trapped inside.
Willie Tye, who lives near the nursing home, told the Associated Press he was watching TV when he heard a “loud kaboom.”
“I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house,” he said.
WCAU reported the explosion and fire originated in the basement of the building.
The station reported the nursing home “wasn’t in compliance with several requirements of the Life Safety Code” after an inspection in October.
“One of the deficiencies included that the facility lacked a Life Safety Code Floor Plan. That’s a specialized building plan which shows where fire barriers, exits and smoke barriers are,” the news station reported.
It added that “in October the facility requested a Fire Safety Evaluation System to be completed by the state. This came after the inspection revealed deficiencies with smoke compartments. The inspection also revealed the door of the area where the facility stores oxygen failed to close ‘smoke-tight at the frame contact.’”
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