Blast Kills 28; 100 Missing

Mar. 1, 1965 - Montreal police said 28 persons were killed in a massive, roof-lifting explosion that demolished an apartment block in suburban LaSalle today. The blast tumbled men, women, and children from their beds and breakfast tables and buried them under tons of burning debris.

At least 40 other persons were critically injured. Scores of others were also hurt. About 100 apartment residents were not accounted for. Police expressed the hope that many of the missing were safe with relatives or friends.

The blast came at 8:15 a.m., when many of the children were about to leave for school. Most of the men already had left for work.

Residents in the area said they noticed “the heavy, sweet taste and smell” of natural gas before the blast wrecked the 40-apartment, three-story brick building at St. Clement and Bergevin Sts.

Many of the victims were buried alive. Rescuers blistered their hands as they tried frantically to clear burning rubble from atop screaming mothers and their youngsters.

One badly burned young boy was pulled out of the wreckage and pronounced dead by doctors. A policeman refused to believe it and, with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, revived the boy.

The explosion was felt and heard a mile away. It blew out windows for dozens of blocks around.

“It looked like the London blitz,” said one rescue worker.

The explosion started fires that swept three adjacent buildings and turned a four-block section of the suburb into ruins.

Hundreds fled in their nightclothes into the Canadian cold. Fathers, who had left for work a short time before, rushed back to search for their families. Quebec Premier Jean Lesage and Attorney General Claude Wagner also rushed to the scene to help with rescue operations and determine the cause of the disaster. 

One man was buried in the rubble 15 minutes then was pulled out by firemen. He rejoined his wife and two children, who also had survived.

“I was in the bathroom, and the next thing I knew there was the sound of a big explosion, and the roof fell in on me,” he said. “I was able to see outside and saw that the rest of the building had been wiped right off the ground.”

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