Dallas rescuers search for victims after gas explosion destroys building and ignites blaze

Nearly 100 firefighters battled a large fire that erupted on Thursday at an apartment complex in Dallas , where debris from one collapsed building lay heaped on the ground while flames and black smoke billowed into the sky. News video showed dozens of firefighters at the scene. Some had hoses trained on piles of smoking debris while others lifted and moved lumber and other burned wreckage as if searching for people underneath. Two firefighters with hoses towered above the blaze on long ladders, while another sprayed water from the window of an upper floor of a neighboring building. A natural gas explosion initially caused the fire, the Dallas fire rescue assistant chief, James Russ, said at a televised press conference . “The fire is contained, but our members are still working on the scene to do primary searches,” Russ said. “We put a drone in the air to canvass the area to see if we see any victims or anything around.” Four people had been taken to the hospital with injuries, Russ said, though he did not know what condition they were in. It was “unknown how many possible fatalities we have”, he added. Police and firefighting crews respond to the scene of a large fire at an apartment complex in Dallas on Thursday. Photograph: Gabriela Passos/AP A nearby street was lined with firetrucks, ambulances and police vehicles with their lights flashing. …