Abstract:
The 1:40 a.m blast Wednesday flattened the four-family home, killing
Violet Carey, 5, and her sister, Iris, 4. At least nine other people escaped
unharmed, including a woman who is nine months pregnant.
"I made an air pocket. I was holding up the debris, putting pressure up
onto it. I could hear [Heath Carey] yelling and then I heard the firemen. I
could feel the air (dwindling)," Carey said.
The young mother said Violet and Iris were excited to start school in the
fall. Even at 4 and 5, the girls had ambitions - Violet wanted to be a
singing nurse, while her sister wanted to be a cowgirl, Carey said.
| Full Text: |
| Copyright Boston Herald Library Jul
26, 2002 |
The anguished mother of two girls killed in a Hopkinton
house explosion Wednesday tearfully recalled hearing her childrens' last
breaths and words as she desperately tried to reach them.
"I heard one say, `Mommy, I can't breathe.' I was
reaching and I found one. I ran my fingers over her face. I couldn't tell if
she was breathing. Her lips were closed. I thought she might be
sleeping," said Tara Carey, 27, who survived along with her husband,
Heath, 26.
"Heath heard one of them gasping. Then he didn't
hear anything," she said. "Heath had reached his hand in and could
feel one of their legs, but couldn't move anything to get to them."
The 1:40 a.m blast Wednesday flattened the four-family
home, killing Violet Carey, 5, and her sister, Iris, 4. At least nine other
people escaped unharmed, including a woman who is nine months pregnant.
Investigators believe a gas leak triggered the blast but
have not ruled out other causes.
"I want them to know how sorry I am this happened to
them. I hope they're watching over us," Carey said while sitting on the
steps of her parents' Milford home.
Carey said she laid down with the girls, who slept in the
same bed with their parents, about 9 p.m. before kissing them goodnight and
telling them she loved them. The couple went to bed two hours later.
"That was it. I woke up to a huge explosion of
orange and blue flames, then everything came crushing down on us. We were
falling from the second floor to the first floor. Then the third floor came
down on us," Carey said.
With her right arm pinned under her, Carey used her free
arm to push the heavy debris away from her face so she could breathe.
"I made an air pocket. I was holding up the debris,
putting pressure up onto it. I could hear Heath yelling and then I heard the
firemen. I could feel the air (dwindling)," Carey said.
The couple screamed for help and Heath Carey began
kicking the heavy debris that trapped his legs. He then crawled out a small
hole in the wreckage. Once outside, Heath Carey helped free his wife.
"I thought the world had exploded and we were being
pushed under ground. If it wasn't for Heath doing that we would have been
gone," said Carey.
The frantic couple begged every person at the scene to
help find their "babies."
"I wouldn't leave until they had them out,"
said Carey, the daughter of a retired firefighter, who said firefighters did
the best they could. "When they brought the second baby out, they all
took their hats off for her, and that was just the most touching
thing."
The double loss has left the family devastated.
"One day we just went to bed like normal and the
next day our life was completely shattered. We have nothing. I don't know
where to begin," said Carey.
Meanwhile, investigators have started an intensive probe
of gas meters and appliances removed from the dwelling to determine the
source of the leak, according to State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.
Sources said investigators found no obvious signs of a
leak and will have experts examine the meters and appliances. Among the
items removed were stoves, a furnace and piping, sources said.
State police yesterday released a tape of an emergency
call made by first-floor resident Janet Webster on her cell phone, reporting
a "rumbling" in the basement and a heavy odor of gas.
Carey said gas workers had been at the house in recent
months to fix the hot water and replace old meters. An NSTAR official said
Wednesday there was no record of any recent work.
The Careys didn't smell gas Tuesday.
The young mother said Violet and Iris were excited to
start school in the fall. Even at 4 and 5, the girls had ambitions - Violet
wanted to be a singing nurse, while her sister wanted to be a cowgirl, Carey
said.
"They had so many dreams. Everything got taken away
from them," she said. "We just loved them so much and miss them so
much."
The girls often went with their parents to work at
freakandfrolic, an online clothing store the couple recently opened.
"To just go to bed, where you're supposed to feel
safe, and have your house explode . . . it was a nightmare. It's just
absolutely unbelievable," Carey said.
Caption: STUNNED: Tara Carey, with her husband Heath,
talks at the home of her mother in Milford yesterday about the explosion
that killed their two young daughters at their Hopkinton home on Wednesday.
PHOTO BY DAVE RAINS/METROWEST DAILY NEWS
Caption: GONE: Their parents heard Iris Carey, 4, left,
and her sister, Violet, 5, through the rubble of their home, but could not
reach them.
