A massive explosion obliterated an empty house on Long Island this morning, blowing out the windows of neighboring homes, sending 21 people to area hospitals and rocketing shoes, bedding and an umbrella into the top branches of neighboring trees.

The 10:44 a.m. blast at 43 Fourth St. in the Suffolk County hamlet of Brentwood could be heard seven miles away in Islip. The deafening explosion may have been caused by a ruptured gas line but investigators have not ruled out arson. Miraculously, no one was killed.

“I was in bed and it felt like an earthquake. I thought a plane hit the house,” said Mushin Kiryaman, a neighbor who lives across the street and was home with his wife and children. “All the shelves and windows in my house broke and collapsed. We were lucky we were sleeping or we would have been hurt badly.”

Twenty-one people were rushed to two area hospitals with minor injuries, including cuts caused by flying glass and debris.

“I was seven miles away in Islip and I heard it,” said George Hauck, spokesman for the Brentwood Ambulance squad. “When I got there it was just total devastation.”

Suffolk County police and Brentwood firefighters are on the scene investigating. They used thermal imaging cameras and sound equipment to search the rubble and make sure no one was in the house.

Police sources said crews turned off all gas and electric service in a one-block radius until utility crews determine it’s safe to turn it back on.

The modest ranch style home has a market value of about $327, 600 and is owned by Donna and Heriberto Soto, land records show.

Neighbors said the couple had been renovating the unoccupied home, which was for sale.

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