Local bystanders took immediate action to rescue a woman after an explosion destroyed a Weslaco restaurant Monday morning.
Those bystanders rescued the woman from a gap in the rubble so small that it shocked Weslaco Fire Chief Antonio “Tony” Lopez.
“There was a little path that she was able to (get out) from under the rubble. And some bystanders, they heard the explosion… ran over and they were able to get her out through a small crevice,” Lopez said.
“If you would have driven up and you would have told me, ‘Go back in there,’ there would have been no space for me to even have noticed that. Survival kicked in for her and she found that opening and the citizens, the bystanders that were in the area, were able to secure her,” the chief said.
The woman sustained injuries and burns after an explosion of unknown cause brought down the El Rinkon Natural y Más restaurant at about 8 a.m. Monday.
Paramedics on scene declared her injuries to be critical. As such, she was transported to the Level 1 trauma center at DHR Health in Edinburg, Lopez said.
Authorities have yet to release her identity.
Before being transported to the hospital, the woman was able to confirm that she had been the only person in the building at the time.
Firefighters responded to the explosion in just two minutes. Once on scene, they found the building collapsed with a small fire burning, and bystanders caring for the woman a few feet away.
“When our first truck got on scene, she was maybe like 2 or 3 feet from the building. Outside,” Lopez said.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, which remains under investigation by the Weslaco Fire Marshal’s Office.
“It was under control (within) maybe 30 minutes,” the fire chief said.
The restaurant did have a natural gas connection, but officials are still unsure what sparked the explosion.
Whatever caused it, however, was powerful, since it was able to collapse the building, which was constructed of 8-inch masonry, Lopez said.
The fire chief also added that the restaurant had been inspected by the fire marshal’s office within the last month.
