A pair of explosions and a fire, apparently sparked by leaking gas, ripped through a nursing home near Philadelphia on Tuesday, killing at least two people and prompting an intense search for victims in a collapsed portion of the building, officials said.

Five people were believed to be missing hours after the blasts and flames ravaged the Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol Township, about 21 miles (33 km) northeast of Philadelphia, Bristol Township Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito said.

Besides the two people killed, an unspecified number of survivors were injured, Dippolito said, adding that numerous patients and staff initially trapped inside a demolished portion of the building were rescued.

Dippolito said the first firefighters arriving on the scene, some from a fire-and-rescue station across the street, encountered "a major structural collapse," with part of the building's first floor crumbling into the basement below.

He said numerous victims were extricated from debris, blocked stairwells and stuck elevators, while firefighters ventured into the collapsed basement zone. 

“We got everyone out that we could, that we could find, that we could see, and we exited the building," Dippolito said.

"Within approximately 15 to 30 seconds of us exiting the building, knowing there was a heavy odor of natural gas around us, there was another explosion and fire.”

The front of the structure appeared to have been blasted away from the inside, but the majority of the facility remained standing, though most of its windows were shattered, according to a Reuters photographer on the scene.

The precise number of patients and staff inside at the time was not immediately known. The nursing home is certified for up to 174 beds, according to an official Medicare provider site.

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