Explosion at chocolate factory in Pennsylvania: at least 2 dead, 5 missing

have been sent to the hospital and to the state. Tonight at least two people are dead and five are still missing after an explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania. Fox's C. B. Cotton has the latest. We've just passed the 24 hour mark from when this explosion first happened, and the urgency continues for a cruise to keep looking through the wreckage to see if there are any more survivors. We know two people are still missing.

The explosion is now in the state. The city of California and people are hanging on to hope for those still unaccounted for just after five Friday afternoon, the explosion put large pieces of debris and thick plumes of smoke in the sky. All of this captured by the weather camera at our Fox affiliate. The R. Impalmer Chocolate Factory is located about an hour and a half Northwest affiliate, and the company says more than 850 people work here. At least eight people are still unaccounted for, and there's been on and off showers throughout the day, but that hasn't stopped recovery efforts. Emergency crews are said to be working quote methodically to remove debris.

They're also using canines and imaging technology to look through the rubble for others. Our Impalmer has been in business since 1948, and these headquarters are about as old, which made things tricky. I believe the particular building that we're referencing here was constructing the early 1960s, I believe late 50s, early 1960s. We did have to access our archives to pull the blueprints last night in order to get a better layout of the building in the mechanicals and utilities where things are. West Reading population is a little more than 4500 people. This has understandably gripped the community. People want answers, but right now the mayor says she won't speculate on the explosion's cause, which is still under investigation in New York.

CB Cotton Fox News.

News, fox_26, kriv, fox_26_houston, pennsylvania