PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A propane tank on a food truck in Philadelphia exploded into a fireball, critically injuring a mother and daughter and sending at least nine others to the hospital, police said.
The truck exploded Tuesday evening outside an auto body shop in the city’s Feltonville neighborhood.
Authorities said a 42-year-old woman and her 17-year-old daughter, who were working on the food truck, were in critical condition Wednesday with burns across a substantial portion of their bodies. Also hospitalized were a 27-year-old woman, a 23-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl. Chief Inspector Scott Small said about seven more people were treated and released.
Surveillance video from two businesses near the La Parrillada Chapina food truck captured the explosion, followed by a huge fireball that engulfed the truck and crossed to the other side of the street, Small said.
He said the four-foot propane tank that exploded, one of two that fuels the food truck, was found about 150 feet away in a residential backyard.