On Monday morning, an explosion rocked a church in the town of Bonneville, New York, wounding five people and completely destroying the church building, local authorities announced.
Rescue teams reported that they had received a report of a gas leak inside the church, located on State Route 12, and before firefighting teams could examine the report, the explosion occurred at 10:45 a.m. while they were responding.
Four of the injured were taken to Upstate Hospital in Syracuse, while the priest was taken to Wynn Hospital in Utica. Medical officials confirmed that all five cases were serious but stable.
Due to the dense fog, it was not possible to use helicopters to transport the injured, forcing ambulance teams to transport them in ambulances.
The authorities called additional firefighting teams from the surrounding areas to the accident site. State Route 12 was closed in both directions, and drivers were asked to avoid the area and use alternate routes.
Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente expressed in an official statement his deep regret over the incident, praised the quick and courageous response of the firefighters, and stressed that local authorities are following up on investigations in cooperation with emergency teams.
New York State Police announced that so far there is no indication of any criminal activity, and added that investigations are underway to determine the cause of the explosion. The explosion and fire that followed completely destroyed the church.
