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Danvers, Massachusetts: A chemical plant outside Boston blew up with a roar so thunderous that people thought it was an earthquake or a plane crash, destroying two dozen homes in the tightly packed neighbourhood but causing only minor injuries.
The fiery blast flattened the CAI Inc factory, a manufacturer of solvents and inks, around 3am on Wednesday, knocking buildings off their foundations, shredding roofs and shattering windows in neighbouring Salem. The explosion could be heard more than 30kms away.
"I was in bed and then next thing I knew, I was on my feet. I saw the flames and grabbed my clothes. My first thought was that an airplane crashed," said Paul O'Donnell, an aircraft mechanic, "but then I thought it was too early for that".
Nearly 90 homes were damaged, with roughly 25 wrecked beyond repair, but only 10 of the more than 300 people believed to be in the neighbourhood were hurt, and their injuries were minor, authorities said. The plant was empty at the time.
"The miracle is you have the equivalent of a 2,000-pound bomb going off in a residential neighbourhood at night when everybody is home, and no one's dead and no one is seriously injured," Governor Mitt Romney said.
Officials said it could take weeks to determine the cause of the explosion.
Most of the damaged homes were in view of the plant, and some stood right across the street. The neighbourhood is among the oldest in the city, dating to the 1700s, with a mixture of business and homes because it was settled before modern zoning rules.
Residents in the most severely affected areas would not be allowed back into their homes until today, Danvers Fire Chief James Tutko said at a press conference on Wednesday night.
Firefighters from 30 cities and towns battled the blaze in this community about 30kms northeast of Boston.
Bakery owner Luis Ferreira was working overnight making bread and pies for customers ahead of yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday when "all of the sudden - boom - and everything gets dark". Through the flour and dust, employees called out to each other.
"We had no idea what happened at the time. We just got out of there," said Ferreira, who suffered scrapes on his face and wore a bandage on his temple.
CAI Treasurer Paul Sartorelli said that company officials didn't know what caused the accident, and said the company underwent safety upgrades in 2001.
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