Glen Oaks, N.Y- FDNY search crews found the body of a 40-year-old wife and mother under debris from a decimated Queens home Friday night. A spokesman for
Consolidated Edison says a gas leak is to blame for the blast that destroyed her house and severely damaged three others.
A neighbor smelled gas odor around 3:30pm.By 4:05pm, investigators from the utility responded to 80-46 260th Street. Just 40 minutes later, as a
Con Ed worker lifted a manhole cover, the home at 80-50 260th Street exploded.
Onlookers could see choking grey smoke bellowing from the single family home for miles. Once firefighters got the flames under control, they tried to locate the missing mother by triangulating the position of her cell phone.
FDNY Operations Chief Patrick McNally explained how the initial signs pointed to tragedy. “We can’t account for her actions. It would be normal
for her to be in the building at the time. We have not been able to contact her through her cell phone.We triangulated the area of her cell phone. It says that it is in this area. “
By 9:30pm search crews found the woman’s body.
She leaves behind three children ages 10, 8, and 7. They were still at school when the home blew up. The deceased woman’s husband was still at
work. Police had not released the mother’s name when this article was published.
Utility investigators are now trying to determine what caused the gas leak. Section Manger Bill Horgan would not surmise how the leak occurred, but he did say a build-up of gas could be easily ignited if a rush of oxygen streamed in the house. “What causes an explosion is the right mixture of natural gas and air and something sparks it and creates an explosion.” Horgan said there had not been a complaint call from the block in question since 2007.