Ladyville shops explodes; cause unknown
“Blown to smithereens” is the only way to describe what happened to a shop on Ayacary Street in Ladyville early Sunday morning. Tonight the owners of San Benito Grocery, the Police, Fire Department and BDF still do not know the cause of the blast, which blew off the roof and turned three walls into rubble. While there have been suggestions that there was a butane gas leak, Fire Chief Henry Baizar says he does not believe this to be the case since there was no sign of fire, the tank was unaffected and there was ample ventilation in the building. Baizar says he has seen tanks explode in houses and they have never blown walls away. Although the owners initially told by neighbors that a tornado had blown the building down, the Meteorological Service says there were no abnormally high winds reported in the area. The scene was so puzzling, that when Edward Bennett Sr. and his wife arrived on the scene they couldn’t help but wonder if someone had sabotaged the building.
Edward Bennett Sr., Owner, San Benito Grocery
“What I think to myself, I don’t want to get it wrong, but I think somebody actually planted a bomb in here. I think it’s a bomb. Because we came, we found everything else intact, we found the gas tank, it was right there. Nothing wrong with the gas tank, no leakage, it still has in gas in it. The power supply is right over there it still over there and there’s no scorch to say it was caused by the power supply.”
Karla Heusner
And nothing combustible was being kept in the shop, any kind of cleaning supplies, or anything with gasoline or…
Edward Bennett
“No, nothing”
Mrs. Bennett
“No. nothing, nothing, No.”
Edward Bennett
“I will try my best to rebuild again, I don’t know when in the near future. Get the help of my friends and neighbors, politicians, whoever is around to help me get my place back together, because we lost everything already. That’s my whole life right there.”
According to Police, BDF demolition experts have found no evidence of explosives. Whatever the cause, fortunately no one was injured in the blast since there are no living quarters at the shop. The Bennetts, who have had the store for five years, value their loss at over thirty thousand dollars. Nothing was insured.
