At least eight people were hospitalized after an explosion inside a building Tuesday on Chicago’s West Side, authorities said.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene of a four-story apartment shortly before 9:30 a.m. and found the top floor of the building had collapsed, said Marc Ferman, deputy fire marshal of the Fire Department of Chicago, in a press conference.
Eight people were hospitalized, including one person “from the building across the street,” Ferman said.
Three of the people hospitalized were in serious or critical condition, the Chicago Fire Department said. The victims had injuries ranging from “burns to traumatic injuries,” Ferman said.
Residents were also displaced by the explosion, Ferman said, adding that authorities were not sure how many people had been displaced.
Ferman said crews are “confident we got everybody out,” but a final search for additional victims is underway.
A mass casualty emergency medical services unit was dispatched to the scene, along with 10 ambulances, the department said.
The adjacent building was also evacuated after the blast in Chicago’s South Austin neighborhood. said the fire department.
Pictures and a video posted on social media by the fire department showed firefighters and several fire trucks converging near a street littered with debris. The top floor of a building appeared to be destroyed, according to images released by the department.
The fire department did not provide any additional details about the injuries or the cause of the explosion.
“Right now, we don’t know what caused this incident,” Ferman said. “It’s still under investigation.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she is “closely monitoring” the collapse.
“My thoughts are with those injured and displaced in the building collapse in the Austin neighborhood,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
Contact News Now reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
