Frank Gonzalez stood on a hill overlooking the blast site, watching the rubble being cleared. He said his sister, Diana Cedeno, was working at the plant at the time of the blast and was among the missing.
“It’s not good. It’s just stressful waiting, not knowing,” he said, expressing frustration at what he perceived as a lack of communication from authorities about the search. “We keep reaching out, bugging, keeping her name alive just in case she is in there and says her name.”
He said his sister has two adult children, including a son who is deployed overseas. She has a side job decorating for parties and has also been studying for ministry at her church, he said.
Video below: WGAL’s Paola Tristan-Arruda reports from the scene Saturday evening.
Play Video
Gonzalez said his son and nephew had also worked at the plant, but that his son had quit a few months ago “because he said he didn’t like the smell of the gas that was in there.” His son and nephew had complained about the smell to plant supervisors, who told them, “‘It’s all right. We got it. It’s being handled. Don’t worry about it,'” he said.Frank DeJesus said his stepdaughter, Arelis Rivera Santiago, a Palmer employee, was working in the building next door at the time of the blast. The ceiling caved, and she had to crawl under machinery to make it out, he said. DeJesus said he rushed to the scene to find her “shaking and crying hysterically,” and she was still too shaken to speak about what had happened.
— Read on www.wgal.com/article/pennsylvania-berks-county-chocolate-factory-explosion/43415949
