Five injured after New Jersey house explosion caused by gas leak

• Residents in Stafford Township, New Jersey first reported a gas odor Tuesday morning
• New Jersey Natural Gas workers responded to the scene and were investigating the leak when an explosion tore through a suburban home
• Five workers were rushed to the hospital - one of them in critical condition
• About 75 to 100 families have been evacuated and the gas line shut off

By Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:42 EST, 24 February 2015 | Updated: 17:59 EST, 24 February 2015

A house was 'disintegrated' and five people rushed to the hospital on Tuesday when a natural gas leak caused a dramatic explosion in a New Jersey neighborhood.

New Jersey Natural Gas workers were called to Oak Avenue in Stafford Township Tuesday morning after reports of a suspicious odor in the neighborhood.

While investigating a possible leak, a house at the far east end of the street exploded - sending flames into the air, shattering windows of surrounding houses and shaking the ground a mile around.

Five workers were injured in the blast - with at least one who was in an extremely critical state and needed CPR on the scene.

The current condition of the five gas workers is not currently known.

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Devastating: Five New Jersey Natural Gas workers were injured - one critically - when a leak caused a massive explosion that leveled a house on the New Jersey shore Tuesday morning

All that's left: The above scene shows where a house used to stand before the explosion which virtually disintegrated the structure

Helicopter footage of the blast site shows debris littering the street, smoke filled air, and a hole in the ground - the basement that is the only remnant of the leveled home.

'The house has been disintegrated,' Stafford Township Mayor John Spodofora told NBC New York.

The sheer force of the blast was felt across the community, with some saying the tremor shook their homes as far as a mile away.

'It was kind of like a mini-earthquake,' Plowing contractor Max Von Newss said. 'You were thinking it was like a bomb.'

'It looks like a war area. It's just destruction. There's debris all over the place,' Mr Von Ness added.

Devastating: Residents first reported a gas odor around 8:55am on Tuesday

Earth-shattering: Those in the community could feel the explosion shake their homes from nearly a mile away

Victims: The conditions of the five injured workers is not immediately known

Without homes: About 75 to 100 homes in the surrounding area have been evacuated and the gas line shut off

The gas odor was first reported around 8:55am, and were trying to contain the leak at 10:45am when the blast occured.

Neighborhood resident Barbara Cotov told the Press of Atlantic City that the smell was 'terribly strong' and filled her entire house.

She says she was told to evacuate by men in informs who said: 'To be safe, you need to leave.'

She felt the blast as she was driving to get coffee and buy groceries.

'When I saw all that smoke, I said "Oh my God, is that my house,"' she said.

Luckily, her house had been spared.

NJ Natural Gas personnel dig in front of smoldering debris after the explosion on Tuesday in Stafford Township

It's unclear when gas will be turned back on in the town on the New Jersey shore

Before the blast, residents reported smelling a bad odor in the air - prompting a call to the gas authority

'The house has been disintegrated,' Stafford Township Mayor John Spodofora said of the home leveled in the blast

Tuesday's explosion comes nearly a year after another gas leak sparked at a blast in nearby Ewing, destroying 10 houses, killing one woman and injuring seven people in March 2014. The scene of the Tuesday blast pictured above

Michael Thomas was not as fortunate. He lives one house down from the scene and when he heard about the explosion he drove home from work to survey the damage: finding cabinets knocked down, sheetrock damaged and pictures shaken off the wall.

But Mr Thomas is just thankful that his wife and 1-year-old son where out of the house at the time.

'I don't care so much about the house, the house can be fixed, as long as my kid, my wife and the dog are all right,' Mr Thomas said.

About 75 to 100 families in the surrounding area have now been evacuated while emergency crews have shut off the gas to investigate where the leak occurred.

It's unclear when the gas will be turned back on.

Tuesday's explosion comes nearly a year after another gas leak sparked at a blast in nearby Ewing, destroying 10 houses, killing one woman and injuring seven people in March 2014.