<p>Two people were killed and nine others were missing after a powerful explosion ripped through a chocolate factory in West Reading, Pennsylvania, on Friday, sending a plume of smoke into the air and shaking houses blocks away, officials said.</p>.<p>The explosion at around 5 pm destroyed one building and damaged another at the R.M. Palmer Co. chocolate factory in West Reading, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, the police chief, Wayne Holben, said at a news conference.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/us-airbase-targeted-in-missile-attack-in-syria-1203141.html" target="_blank">US airbase targeted in missile attack in Syria</a></strong></p>.<p>The cause of the explosion was under investigation, he said.</p>.<p>Reading Hospital received a total of eight patients, said a spokesperson, Jessica Bezler. She said one of the patients had been transferred, two had been admitted in fair condition and the others would be discharged.</p>.<p>The explosion sent a column of debris, flames and dust shooting into the air, as shown in a video that was captured by weather cameras and shared on Twitter by a reporter for Fox 29 News in Philadelphia.</p>.<p>“The explosion was so big that it moved that building 4 feet forward,” Mayor Samantha Kaag, who is also a firefighter, said at the news conference after she responded to the scene. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great scene to come into. It was pretty scary.”</p>.<p>Holben said that there was no danger to the surrounding area but that authorities were urging people to avoid the scene. He said that a command center had been set up to coordinate the local and state agencies that were responding to the explosion.</p>.<p>R.M. Palmer, founded in 1948, employs 850 people, according to its website, and is known for making seasonal chocolates, including hollow milk chocolate bunnies for Easter.</p>.<p>Dean Murray, the West Reading borough manager, called the company “a staple of the borough.”</p>.<p>“Our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody involved,” he said.</p>.<p>In an interview, Kaag said she had felt the explosion at her house, four or five blocks from the factory.</p>.<p>“I didn’t hear a boom,” she said. “I just felt it shake my house.”</p>
<p>Two people were killed and nine others were missing after a powerful explosion ripped through a chocolate factory in West Reading, Pennsylvania, on Friday, sending a plume of smoke into the air and shaking houses blocks away, officials said.</p>.<p>The explosion at around 5 pm destroyed one building and damaged another at the R.M. Palmer Co. chocolate factory in West Reading, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, the police chief, Wayne Holben, said at a news conference.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/us-airbase-targeted-in-missile-attack-in-syria-1203141.html" target="_blank">US airbase targeted in missile attack in Syria</a></strong></p>.<p>The cause of the explosion was under investigation, he said.</p>.<p>Reading Hospital received a total of eight patients, said a spokesperson, Jessica Bezler. She said one of the patients had been transferred, two had been admitted in fair condition and the others would be discharged.</p>.<p>The explosion sent a column of debris, flames and dust shooting into the air, as shown in a video that was captured by weather cameras and shared on Twitter by a reporter for Fox 29 News in Philadelphia.</p>.<p>“The explosion was so big that it moved that building 4 feet forward,” Mayor Samantha Kaag, who is also a firefighter, said at the news conference after she responded to the scene. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great scene to come into. It was pretty scary.”</p>.<p>Holben said that there was no danger to the surrounding area but that authorities were urging people to avoid the scene. He said that a command center had been set up to coordinate the local and state agencies that were responding to the explosion.</p>.<p>R.M. Palmer, founded in 1948, employs 850 people, according to its website, and is known for making seasonal chocolates, including hollow milk chocolate bunnies for Easter.</p>.<p>Dean Murray, the West Reading borough manager, called the company “a staple of the borough.”</p>.<p>“Our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody involved,” he said.</p>.<p>In an interview, Kaag said she had felt the explosion at her house, four or five blocks from the factory.</p>.<p>“I didn’t hear a boom,” she said. “I just felt it shake my house.”</p>