Video of PECO crews working at Silver Lake Nursing Home
PECO crew members work in the explosion site at Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol Township on Dec. 29, 2025.
The name of the second victim killed following an explosion at a Bristol Township nursing home likely won’t be known anytime soon, according to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office.
But most of the residents of the Bristol Health & Rehab Center who were hospitalized following the Dec. 23 blast at the 174-bed nursing home on Tower Road have been released.
Two people were killed, 20 others injured and more than 100 nursing home residents were displaced after a suspected gas leak in the building’s basement ignited, local officials said.
The explosion’s cause remains under investigation by a National Transportation Safety Board team. A preliminary report isn’t expected until next month.
Nineteen people were treated at local hospitals, and only “a few” nursing home residents remain hospitalized as of Dec. 29, according to Zachary Shamberg, chief of government affairs for Saber Healthcare Group, a management consultant for the nursing home.
On Monday, James Garrow, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Medical Examiner, said it could take “multiple months” before a death certificate is finalized for the female resident who died at a Philadelphia hospital after the explosion.
The office does not release names, cause or manner of death for individuals until a death certificate is completed, Garrow said.
Once company representatives can safely access the property it will work with residents and their families to retrieve items inside the building and disperse them, Shamberg said.
He added the company is working with federal and state agencies to replace dentures, eye glasses, and medications residents lost.
No decision has been made yet about the future of the property, Shamberg added. Residents are being relocated to other nursing homes, but Shamberg declined to provide the names of those locations citing federal privacy law.
Saber has not provided information on the number of employees in the building when the explosion occurred or how many were among the injured.
The company is continuing to pay Bristol Health & Rehab employees for 30 days, and it is making them aware of other jobs available at local Saber-affiliated nursing homes, Shamberg said.
Bristol Township resident Muthoni Nduthu, a 52-year-old nurse, was the only employee who died in the explosion. A Go-Fund-Me campaign to assist her family with her funeral-related expenses has raised more than $32,000 as of Dec. 29.
Also on Monday, the Philadelphia law firm Morgan and Morgan confirmed it has been retained by victims of the nursing home explosion.
Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at [email protected]
link
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/VWH-GettyImages-2157903338-69370a8ef92e449b8958c22cab26dd28.jpg "What Happens to Your Gut Health When You Eat Wild Blueberries Regularly")