‘A miracle’: Advocate says help being planned for victims of Calgary house explosion

A leader in Calgary’s South Sudanese community says efforts are to be made to provide financial help to 10 people seriously injured in a house explosion.

The blast Monday destroyed one home, damaged several others and left part of the roof from the house that blew up in a yard across the street in the neighbourhood east of downtown.

Calgary Emergency Medical Services has said all the victims were adults and that six of them had life-threatening injuries, and four were seriously hurt.

Community advocate Gar Gar said it appears all of the victims were from South Sudan. Gar said he and some of the victims’ family members met at one of the hospitals where the injured were taken.

“I met a son who came to the hospital and went in and saw his dad, and you could see the tears in his eyes. That sounds like it’s related to something that he saw and the shape is father is in,” Gar said Tuesday.

“There are family members, cousins, uncles and their nephews and nieces. Eventually, those will be the houses that some of them, when they get out of the hospital, might also be hoping to get back in.”

The fire department said the force of the explosion created “a large debris field” and several fires. A tangle of what appeared to be charred beams, pink insulation and splintered wood could be seen where the house once stood.

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Homes on either side were charred, and one had a shattered window. A tree in front had a piece of plywood and other debris stuck in it.

Gar said after hearing about the explosion and seeing its aftermath, he can’t believe there have been no deaths so far.

“To hear that they’re still fighting for their lives and some of them are stable _ that by itself is a miracle, and we give thanks for the responders who came in and took them so quick,” he said.

“Back home, we would probably have been talking about something different.”

Gar said if all 10 victims were living inside the home, he wants to know why.

“That’s certainly something we are asking when we get more details to see what kept 10 people in one house. Is that affordability issues, or is that simply because we’re seeing the homelessness coming into the South Sudanese community?”

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Gar said community members will be meeting with the families Tuesday to see about setting up a crowdfunding page.

“Basically they lost everything in one blink of an eye. They’re fighting not to lose their lives,” Gar said.

“We’re hoping to rally around those families and the community to come together and to support them where we can.”

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.