<\/p>\n
An explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia collapsed part of the building and left people injured and trapped inside, authorities said.<\/p>\n
A plume of black smoke rose from Silver Lake healthcare center in Bristol Township, as emergency responders across the region gathered there.<\/p>\n
Police for Upper Makefield Township posted on social media that it was a \u201cmass casualty incident\u201d and warned people to avoid the area in Bristol, about 25 miles (40km) north-east of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Bucks County emergency management officials reported that there were injuries, but had yet to say whether there were any fatalities.<\/p>\n
County officials said they received the report of an explosion at approximately 2.17pm and said a portion of the building was reported to have collapsed. Ruth Miller, a Pennsylvania<\/a> emergency management agency spokesperson, said her agency had been informed that people were trapped inside.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw smoke and I saw car after car after car was a fire truck or ambulance from all over the city, from all over,\u201d said the state representative Tina Davis, whose district includes the facility and who approached the scene in her car.<\/p>\n The cause of the explosion was unclear.<\/p>\n Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, said investigators from the safety division were headed to the scene.<\/p>\n Hagen-Frederiksen said first responders and emergency management officials were describing it as a gas explosion, but that won\u2019t be confirmed until his agency can examine the scene up close.<\/p>\n Davis said there was talk of using a nearby school as a temporary evacuation area.<\/p>\n