“I could just hear people screaming and calling for help," Donell Adams, a victim of the explosion, told CBS News.
An early morning explosion in a four-story apartment building in Chicago on Sept. 20 left at least eight people injured, three of them critically, said the Chicago Fire Department in a tweet.
The apartment building was located in the South Austin neighborhood in Chicago, to which CFD was dispatched for a structural collapse, reported CFD. The apartment building was owned by West End LLC and was a 4-story building with 35 units, according to ABC News.
One of the victims, Donell Adams, spoke to CBS about their experience that day.
"It was like raining bricks and window seals, the frames, everything just raining over me and I could just hear people screaming and calling for help," Adams said.
"But there was nothing I could do. I was under the car and debris going everywhere. Then it went off again. It was smaller, just traumatic,” Adams told CBS.
Adams was just entering the building at the time of the initial explosion, and notes hearing a smaller explosion shortly after the first, according to CBS.
Mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, said she is monitoring the situation in a statement in a Facebook post and offered her thoughts and gratitude to those involved.
“My thoughts are with those who were injured and displaced in the building collapse in the Austin neighborhood. We must also thank the brave men and women of the Chicago Fire Department who are working to abate the dangerous conditions,” said Mayor Lightfoot in the post.
The source of the explosion is unknown but CFD suspect the top level of the apartment building may have been where it occurred, according to a tweet by CFD. The incident is under investigation by Chicago Police and the Office of Fire Investigation, CFD reported.
