Pa. Man Survives Gas Explosion
OIL CITY, Pa. (AP) - A 62-year-old man walked away with a few scratches after a natural gas explosion blew his home off its foundation and turned it into a fireball.
Donald Mutkus was on the second floor Thursday when the basement walls collapsed. The first floor fell into the basement and the structure burst into flames.
Mutkus was barefoot, but escaped by walking along a stairway banister still attached to a wall - the stairs were gone - then crawling out a window that had been blasted out.
``It was like a hand grenade going off,'' said Mutkus, who had smelled gas and checked the basement just minutes before retreating upstairs.
National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG - news) of Buffalo, N.Y., said the explosion was caused by a corroded pipe under the house, about 50 miles southeast of Erie.
Gene Miller, the township's assistant fire chief, heard the explosion a mile away.
The home, worth $65,000, was destroyed. Windows in a neighboring home were shattered, and a nearby trailer was lifted off its foundation, authorities said.