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Philadelphia explosion blamed on gas leak

Philadelphia explosion was caused by a gas leak, officials said Monday. The Philadelphia explosion injured eight people and toppled an unoccupied row house.

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Michael Giordano/AP
A row house collapsed following the Philadelphia explosion on Monday. A row house collapsed in South Philadelphia Monday severely damaged neighboring houses and hurting at least eight people, including a baby and a critically injured contractor.
  • By Joann Loviglio and Keith Collins Associated Press

| Philadelphia

Investigators say a gas leak is to blame for a Philadelphia house explosion that left eight people hurt, one critically.

City officials made the determination Monday afternoon, several hours after the unoccupied home collapsed and adjoining homes were badly damaged. The house was being remodeled in the middle of a southPhiladelphia street lined with connected two-story brick homes.

Police say a contractor was working on a water heater in the basement of the destroyed home. He is hospitalized with critical injuries while the other seven people, including a baby, have injuries that aren't life threatening.

Bricks showered onto the small street and nearly covered a car parked out front. The houses on either side of the destroyed home were left partly standing, with large sections of their masonry walls gone.

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