Workers recover body of man trapped after gas station blast

BENSALEM, Pa. – Rescue workers have recovered the body of a man trapped underground by a gas station explosion in Pennsylvania.

Bensalem Public Safety Director Fred Harran says workers pulled the body of 63-year-old Joe Vigilante from underneath several feet of concrete and debris on Wednesday, 27 hours after an explosion rocked the Liberty Gas Station.

Vigilante was the co-owner of the gas station.

Harran says Vigilante and 63-year-old Frank Tomasiello were trying to remove water from a vault surrounding one of the station’s 8,000-gallon (30,000-litre) gasoline tanks when the blast happened around 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Tomasiello was rescued and rushed to a Philadelphia hospital. He is listed in critical but stable condition.

The cause of the blast is still under investigation.