The Associated Press
NORFOLK, Mass. — Six construction workers were hurt Friday — three seriously — when a home where construction was nearing completion exploded in a new Massachusetts development for people over 55.
Three people were taken away in MedFlight helicopters after the explosion and fire at The Village at River’s Edge in Norfolk, about 20 miles southwest of Boston, Friday afternoon. The other three were taken to hospitals by ambulance.
Town Administrator Jack Hathaway said the explosion occurred in one side of a duplex condominium where construction was being finished. A woman who lived on the other side of the duplex — which had already been completed — managed to escape unhurt.
Hathaway said one construction worker was trapped in the rubble for about an hour before rescue workers were able to get him out.
Hathaway said he felt the blast a half-mile away, while people in the neighboring town of Franklin reported hearing the blast two miles away.
“Right now, three-quarters of the house just doesn’t exist,” Hathaway said.
Investigators are not sure what caused the explosion.
Representatives of The Village at River’s Edge and DiPlacido Development Corp., the project’s builders, could not immediately be reached for comment. Messages were left at their offices.
Lorelei Margeson, 66, who lives on a neighboring street, said she heard a huge explosion and her house shook.
“The volume and intensity of it, you get frightened. I’ve never heard anything like that before. It felt like it was right in your backyard,” she said.