ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A thunderous gas explosion devastated a row-house neighborhood, killing five people, and suspicion fell on an 83-year-old cast-iron gas main.
The fiery blast was the latest natural-gas disaster to raise questions about the safety of the nation's aging, 2.5-million-mile network of gas and liquid pipelines.
The explosion, which flattened a pair of row houses and set fire to a block of homes late Wednesday, occurred in an area where the underground gas main lacked shut-off valves.