All seven bodies have been recovered from the site of a powerful explosion at a chocolate factory in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania, officials said.
West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag said in a statement Sunday night that none of the victims will be named until officials are certain that all families have been contacted.
"Please understand that this is a devastating loss, but we are truly grateful to bring closure to the families involved in the upcoming days," Kaag said.
Police Chief Wayne Holben said at a press briefing just after 9 p.m. that rescue workers had found the bodies earlier in the evening and that they are believed to be the remaining two individuals who were listed as missing earlier in the day. Their identities will be confirmed by the Berks County Coroner's Office, he said.
One of the victims was found around 6:50 p.m., and the other around 8:20 p.m., Holben said. The deaths bring the total number killed in the blast at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant to seven.
Earlier in the day, Kaag confirmed to The Associated Press that the fifth body was found Sunday morning by first responders and confirmed dead by the Berks County Coroner's Office. The coroner was unable to confirm the identity of that person, Kaag said.
Holben confirmed the body of a fourth victim was found under debris early Sunday at the plant in the borough of West Reading, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Holben asked for continued prayers from the community and vowed that rescuers and officials "will not rest until every single person affected by this tragedy has been accounted for" from the blast that occurred just before 5 p.m. Friday.
Rescue crews had been using heat imaging equipment and dogs to search for possible survivors after the blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighboring building. Crews were using heavy equipment to methodically and carefully pull debris from the site, Holben said.
Three buildings around the site will be condemned as a precaution, Kaag said.
"This does not mean they are slated for demolition or uninhabitable," she said. "Simply that there will still be work happening around them as we proceed and they will need to be looked at further by structural engineers."
Officials said they had no update on the condition of a woman pulled alive from the rubble early Saturday. Kaag said she had apparently been on the second floor and was found in a "hopeful circumstance," calling out to rescuers despite her injuries after a dog located her.
Officials also reported no updates on the conditions of those taken to hospitals. Reading Hospital said it received 10 patients and transferred two to other facilities, while two others were admitted in good and fair condition respectively and the others had been discharged.
R.M. Palmer said in a statement Saturday afternoon that everyone at the company was "devastated," and it was reaching out to employees and their families through first responders and disaster recovery organizations because its communication systems were down.
"We have lost close friends and colleagues, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of all who have been impacted," the company said in the statement.
It expressed gratitude for the "extraordinary efforts" of first responders and the support of the Reading community, "which has been home to our business for more than 70 years."
The company said it would be "providing additional information and making contact with employees, impacted families, and the community as soon as possible."
Kaag, a volunteer firefighter herself, said rescue crews had been working 12- to 16-hour shifts and were so dedicated to continuing the search that "you have to pull them away at this point" to swap out and get some rest.
Kaag said some residents have reported damage to windows from the blast, and she asked people to "take a walk around your house" and report any damage.
"It's pretty leveled," she said of the explosion site. "The building in the front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it moved that building four feet forward."
State and local fire investigators are continuing to examine the scene to try to determine the cause of the blast.
The blast also damaged a neighboring building. Roadways near the site will be closed until Monday at 8 a.m., Holben said.
A UGI Utilities spokesperson said crews were brought in after damage from the blast led to the release of gas that was helping to feed the fire.
"We did not receive any calls regarding a gas leak or gas order prior to the incident. But we are cooperating with the investigation and part of that will be to check all our facilities in the vicinity," UGI spokesperson Joseph Swope said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, who visited the site Saturday along with the emergency management agency director, vowed "any and all commonwealth resources needed to support ongoing recovery efforts — in addition to the extensive assets that have already been deployed."
Philip Wert, vice president of the West Reading council, said the building had been constructed in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and officials had to "access our archive to pull the blueprints [Friday] night, in order to get a better layout of the building and the mechanicals and the utilities, where things are."
"The silver lining in all this is someone was found alive, someone was found alive that was in rubble, not knowing whether they were going to live or die, and fortunately we found that person and they've got a second chance ..." he said.
Frank DeJesus said his stepdaughter, Arelis Rivera Santiago, a Palmer employee, was working in the building next door at the time of the blast. The ceiling caved, and she had to crawl under machinery to make it out, he said. DeJesus said he rushed to the scene to find her "shaking and crying hysterically," and she was still too shaken to speak about what had happened.
Plant employees, including his stepdaughter, had complained about smelling gas throughout the day Friday, DeJesus said.
"Everyone complained about smelling gas, and they kept making them work," he said. "The supervisors told them it was nothing. It was being taken care of."
Doug Olexy was home from work and checking email when the blast shook his house, rattling windows and making the walls vibrate.
"It sounded like a bomb went off," he recalled Saturday. "I mean, all of our houses shook. I've never heard as loud of an explosion in my life."
He and his neighbors ran out onto the street immediately afterward and were met by thick black smoke. At first, Olexy thought it was a train derailment because there are tracks nearby. Then he learned it was the Palmer plant, which he called a West Reading institution.
"Everybody knows Palmer chocolate," he said.
R.M. Palmer's website says it has been making chocolate novelties since 1948 and now has 850 employees at its West Reading headquarters. Its Facebook page includes entries earlier this month advertising Easter treats such as chocolate bunnies and "the newest milk chocolate hollow" in its "bunny family" as one with jelly beans inside.
The company is by no means the region's best-known chocolate manufacturer, however, with Hershey less than an hour's drive to the west.
