Trunk Remote Triggers Car Explosion In Stoneham Parking Lot

STONEHAM (CBS) - A car blew up in a crowded parking lot in Stoneham Sunday afternoon, but no one was hurt.

It happened around 3:45 p.m at the local BJ's Wholesale Club as Jackie Sugrue used a remote key to open the trunk of her 2012 Honda Civic.

"Me and my boyfriend were walking to my car and I unlocked my car and immediately after that I popped my trunk and then my car just exploded all over the parking lot," she told WBZ-TV.

The State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said Sugrue's remote ignited vapors that were leaking from plumbing equipment that was stored in the trunk.

"There was a leak in the acetylene tank that caused the explosion based upon the transmittal of the remote," Coan told WBZ-TV.

Sugrue's car was destroyed, but she's thankful no one was killed.

"There was a guy parked right next to me loading up his car so I don't know how he didn't get hurt.  My trunk went flying over this whole row of cars into the next row," she said, "so it could have turned out really bad."