The deadly event took place Tuesday around 5 p.m. on Bristol Pike in Bensalem
The Times
On Tuesday, June 12 at approximately 5 p.m., an explosion at Liberty Gas Station, located on the 1200 block of Bristol Pike, rocked the Bensalem community.
Since that time, rescue crews have been on hand to recover the body of the station’s co-owner, Joseph Vigilante, who was trapped underground beneath several feet of debris.
According to Bensalem fire rescue battalion chief, Rob Sponheimer, and Bensalem director of public safety, Fred Harran, the mission became a recovery effort rather than a rescue by Wednesday morning.
“We hope to recover the body and give his family closure,” Harran told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
Over the next several hours, two sets of two-man crews worked until they were able to pull Vigilante’s body from the debris.
“This has been a long, slow operation. We want to make sure no one else gets hurt,” Harran said.
The investigation is still ongoing as to what caused the 8,000-gallon propane tank to explode. According to Harran, the environment was dangerous for recovery workers since the space is home to two additional tanks, as well as leftover fumes from the destroyed one.
Harran also explained his understanding of why Vigilante was underground in the first place — there is a gas tank, and a vault that contains the gas tank. Sometimes, water fills in between the two and needs to be removed by hand, which he said isn’t uncommon in the industry.
Still, something went wrong, and officials are investigating whether the tank was breached before or after the explosion.
A second employee was on site at the time of the explosion, and is currently in critical but stable condition at Jefferson University Hospital.
