Desperate effort launched to rescue woman trapped in rubble after massive gas explosion
Rescue workers are digging frantically to reach a 30-year-old woman who was trapped beneath a mountain of rubble after a massive gas explosion in a Sydney suburb in Australia on Saturday.
Jasmin Mhey went missing after the 1 p.m. blast Saturday at a townhouse complex in Whalan, about 28 miles west of Sydney – with authorities then realizing that she was trapped under tons of debris, according to a report by The Daily Telegraph.
Officials said rescue workers began to dig after hearing “taps and noises” from the rubble.
“We have a generalized area where we’re searching for them and that’s based on the design of the building,” New South Wales Superintendent Ross Genders told the outlet.
“At this time, all we know is that they’re still alive,” Genders said. “We’re just going with what we can do.” Superintendent Genders said they have heard “taps and noises” coming from the rubble, which is a “good indicator that there is still life underneath.”
The blast blew out windows and rattled homes for miles, authorities said.
Nearby resident Leanne Ansell was sitting on her lounge watching TV with her dog when she heard the massive explosion.
“I raced out,” local resident Leanne Ansell told the Telegraph. “I had actually thought someone had thrown a makeshift bomb on the veranda and I came out to see my windows smashed.
“Two doors down their house was smashed,” Ansell told reporters. “Apparently we got told a kitchen sink had flown down the landway and landed in someone’s loungeroom. People were saying they heard it in Werrington, it was that loud.”
Mhey was visiting her mother but was due to show up for work at a nearby steak restaurant, but never made it, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said in a report.
As of Sunday, firefighters, who had to deal with a number of small fires in the debris, were using search cameras and police canines to find the trapped woman.
“We don’t normally see urban collapse like this here,” Genders said. “Normally it’s associated with things like an earthquake or we deploy overseas it’s unusual to get this on home turf.”.
