AP Photo/ Springfield Republican, Don Treeger
Gas company workers stand where a building was leveled by an explosion in downtown Springfield, Mass.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- A natural gas explosion in one of New England's biggest cities on Friday leveled a strip club with a boom heard for miles and heavily damaged a dozen other buildings but didn't kill anyone, authorities said.
Firefighters, police officers and gas company workers in the area because of an earlier gas leak and odor report were among the 18 people injured in the blast, authorities said.
"This is a miracle on Worthington Street that no one was killed," Lt. Gov. Tim Murray said at a press conference.
The explosion in Springfield, 90 miles west of Boston, blew out all windows in a three-block radius, leaving three buildings irreparably damaged and prompting emergency workers to evacuate a six-story apartment building that was buckling, police said.
It leveled a multistory building housing a Scores Gentleman's Club, evacuated earlier because of the gas leak.
The cause of the explosion was under investigation.
An earlier version of this story was posted at 7:28 p.m.