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Title: Blast destroys Beebe duplex

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE May 8, 2000

BEEBE -- A duplex exploded into a heap of rubble late Saturday when a blast lifted a McCullouch Street home from its foundation and rocked the neighborhood.

"I thought an airplane had hit the house," said Estelle Carmichael, a neighbor awakened by the explosion.

Beebe fire investigators and police detectives are still trying to determine whether a gas leak caused the 11:50 p.m. explosion.

By today, officials "should be able to tell conclusively ... what happened," said Beebe Police Department spokesman David Oser.

Two residents were inside the building. Although police were not releasing their names, Oser said a 30-year-old man was inside the apartment when the blast occurred. Rescue crews took him first to a Searcy hospital and then to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, where he was treated for severe burns and was listed in critical condition, Oser said. The resident living in the duplex's other side was treated at the scene. http://www.ardemgaz.com/today/ark/B5xbeebe8.html

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), May 08, 2000