Baltimore gas explosion: Second person found dead among rubble early Tuesday

A man was found dead among the rubble of a massive gas explosion in Northwest Baltimore just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, bringing the number of people killed in the incident to two, officials said.

Workers continued to investigate and cleanup the scene of a major gas explosion that also killed one woman and seriously injured at least seven others after it ripped through multiple homes in the Reisterstown Station neighborhood in Northwest Baltimore Monday.

Five of the seven people injured are in critical condition, Fire Department spokesperson Blair Adams said, and officials haven’t heard of any reports of people still missing. It is now a recovery mission, she said.

She added that 30 residents utilized temporary shelter after the blast and that around 200 were affected by the explosion. Adams said the displaced residents would not be able to return to their homes Tuesday, but officials were working to bring them back so they could collect their belongings.

Baltimore City Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young called the blast “something I’ve never, ever witnessed in my lifetime” and called on the city to pray for and continue to help those affected.

City Council President Brandon Scott said that neighbors rushing to the scene and pulling residents from the rubble showed “the true spirit of Baltimore.”

“We had Baltimoreans rushing to try to save their neighbors from something that you just don’t expect to see in a city,” Scott said. “You saw an entire city, really an entire region, come around those people yesterday and that’s what I’m thankful for.”

Baltimore City employees and police were at the scene of the blast early Tuesday, investigating the surroundings and piecing through debris as officials continue to look for answers as to exactly what caused the blast.

The explosion occurred shortly before 10 a.m. Monday and demolished three two-story row homes in the 4200 block of Labyrinth Road, just behind Reisterstown Road Plaza shopping center near the city-county line.

Officials did not provide names or ages of the people who were killed or injured. On Monday night, the family of Joseph Graham was still searching for the 20-year-old Morgan State University student after they reported he was at a party Sunday night in one of the homes that exploded.

Isaac Graham, Joseph’s uncle, told The Baltimore Sun that his nephew had stayed the night after the party and he was worried he was still trapped under the rubble, as family members have not been able to reach him since Sunday night.

The blast was heard for miles while bricks and debris flew into nearby homes.

Janice Rochester was at work when the explosion occurred, but she called it “the worst thing that’s happened in this neighborhood” since she’s been there over the last 24 years.

Tuesday morning, she stared in angst at the boarded up windows of several homes surrounding her as she described how the BGE, police officers and fire department officials investigated the incident “all night long.”

Rochester’s home is 450 feet away from the explosion site, where several full and empty bottles of water could be seen in a pile of trash several feet away from the piles of debris.

Rochester said she was hopeful the neighborhood would rebuild itself because she returned home to find several residents cleaning the debris overnight.

“To see everybody come together yesterday was a blessing,” said Rochester, who is 58. “It’s a very decent, quiet neighborhood and everyone always comes together. We cut grass together and we do everything together. To see something like this, the loss of life, is something else.”

The explosion hit Titus Smith on a personal level because he’s lived in this area for 12 years. Smith works at the Dollar Store that’s 900 feet away from the site of the explosion. He was standing outside of the store on Labyrinth Road Tuesday morning with another resident as he reflected on his experience.

Smith was waiting for an inventory truck to arrive at the store when the explosion occurred, he said. Smith said he evacuated the store “in a panic mode” when the explosion hit.

Smith and several other residents ran toward the scene after the store was vacated because a friend of his mother lives a couple doors down from the site of the explosion.

“Who would expect an explosion?” said Smith, 38. “I just get like I had to help. It was bad. We were down there when the body was there. We saw it and It was bad. It was so unexpected. To go down to your neighborhood where you live at and to see it in pieces.”

Baltimore Sun reporter McKenna Oxenden contributed to this article.

This story will be updated.

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