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Mar 5, 2008 11:26 pm US/Eastern
Plum Neighbor Pulls 4-Year-Old From Rubble
PLUM BORO (KDKA) ―
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Medics attend to a young girl on a stretcher in Plum Boro after a house explosion on Mardis Gras Drive.
Murphy Moschetta/KDKA
A Plum Boro community is still in shock after an explosion leveled a house, killing a man and injuring his 4-year-old granddaughter.
Richard Leith from Trafford died from his injuries. Gianna Pettinato, 4, reportedly suffered a broken femur.
Lynn Celia lives across the street from the Mardi Gras Drive home that was obliterated. She told KDKA that she found the four-year-old girl amid debris after the child was apparently blown out of her house.
Celia recounts what happened immediately after the blast.
"I was in the kitchen when I heard this very loud - very loud, heard and felt this explosion and thought that it was actually our house, that maybe the roof had caved in. I immediately kind of ran down the hall to the front door and I saw that it was our neighbor's house across the street," she said.
Next, Celia tells KDKA she ran out of the house.
"So I ran across the street and I spotted the little one, Gianna, sitting ... up against the house next door to them, amidst all of this debris. And I could see that she had just been blown out of the house - literally just blown out of the house, which I'm convinced is probably what saved her," she recalled.
Celia says she immediately picked up Gianna carried her back to her home. According to Celia, the child was awake and alert. The girl had been watching TV on the couch when the explosion occurred.
"She was complaining that her leg was hurting; but there was not obvious - there was no bleeding, no obvious injuries. Her hair was singed. Her eyebrows were singed," Celia said.
At least 15 homes in the neighborhood, including Celia's, were damaged. The front windows of her home were blown out and her car was totaled.
"I don't even actually know the state of inside my house because I haven't been in it since I ran out to get the baby," Celia said.
An evacuation order is still in effect as gas crews check for any other possible leaks.
Celia is asking people to pray for the family of the victims.
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