by Dan J Kroll

Posted Friday, January 27, 2006 1:25:30 PM

A special-effect mishap on the set of the ABC Daytime soap opera All My Children has left four people injured. The real-life drama hit as the show was filming scenes for its big February Sweeps storyline - the Mardi Gras ball.

"Unfortunately, during a shoot which included planned special effects, four stunt people were injured," the show said in a statement. "All four are expected to make a swift recovery."

The accident occurred on Tuesday, January 24th at the show's studio on West 66th Street in Manhattan, when a staged explosion turned out to be much more powerful than planned. Four stunt people were injured in the blast. Fire officials said that one man in his 30s was transported to Lenox Hill Hospital. He was expected to be released from the hospital on Saturday. The nature of the victim's injuries was not immediately known.

EXPLOSION PHOTOS

A filming of a scene for a drama series turned dramatic as a powerful explosion rocked All My Children. Click on a photo below to see a full-size image of the explosion.

In video that aired on CNN's Showbiz Tonight, many of the performers on the set appeared to be unaware that the explosion had not gone off as planned. A fiery blast was seen erupting from underneath the set's grand staircase. As planned out in the script, the actors throw themselves onto padded mats to simulate the force of being thrown by the explosion. After filming of the scene was believed to be completed, actress Chrishell Stause (Amanda Dillon) and other performers rise from the mat with smiles on their faces. A crew member continued to sprinkle "debris" in front of the camera to simulate pieces of the ceiling collapsing. It isn't until a stagehand carrying a fire extinguisher and other behind-the-scenes crew members race to the spot of the explosion that it becomes apparent that something went awry.

The mishap took place just a matter of days after ABC issued a press release hyping the storyline and its "sensational special effects," in which a prominent Pine Valley resident is killed. Fortunately, the real-life blast was not nearly as catastrophic.

This is the second time in six months the there has been a scare on the set of a daytime drama series. In August, a prop malfunction on a hospital set on CBS's Guiding Light forced the evacuation of the show's studio over fears of possible mercury exposure.

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