Rah-Quan Palmer (Victor Alcorn)
GRUESOME: Emergency crews pore through the rubble of a house in Brentwood, LI, that was destroyed yesterday when propane tanks blew up. (
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Two 200-pound propane tanks used to fuel a Long Island home exploded yesterday, killing an 18-month-old boy and injuring 14 others, some critically, sources said.
The toddler, Rah-Quan Palmer, was in the two-story Brentwood rental with his family when it was blown to splinters at around noon.
Witnesses described a harrowing scene: Rah-Quan’s distraught mother, Christina Morgan, 23, emerged from the rubble with the limp, bloodied child in her arms as she screamed for help.
“I saw her carrying the baby,” said Anthony Acevedo, 16, who lives across the street.
“She was saying, ‘Help my baby! Help my baby!’ ”
Acevedo’s walls shook when the explosion went off.
A responding police officer grabbed the child and rushed him to the hospital in a cruiser, witnesses said.
Rah-Quan’s mom and dad, Rashamel Palmer, were among the injured.
Cops are investigating, sources said.
Officials believe the blast was set off when the two tanks ignited outside — there is no direct natural-gas line to the house, officials said.
Neighbors said it sounded as if a bomb had been dropped.
The blast was so strong, it sprayed two neighboring homes with shrapnel and blew out their windows, injuring one woman who was inside her house and a pedestrian nearby.
Six people were inside when the tanks detonated. Four of them are in critical condition.
Nine emergency responders were also taken to area hospitals with light injuries.
“I heard a lady cop yelling, ‘We need help! We need help!’ ” said neighbor and good Samaritan Dave Grant.
“I dove in and we grabbed one guy that was in there and brought him out into the street,” he said. “He was underneath everything.”
Rescue crews and neighbors desperately tried to lift portions of the home’s roof — which was on the ground — in an attempt to reach those trapped beneath the rubble.
“You could see that they were badly burned,” Grant said, adding that rescue efforts took place amid the strong stench of gas.
Islip Town officials said the home — located at 12 Prospect Drive, near the Brentwood Country Club — had repeatedly been cited for illegal rentals and code violations.
Inspectors had been at the home just last week to look into flooding in the basement.