David Matthews
New York Daily News
(TNS)
A teenage girl and an infant were injured Thursday after a house explosion in New Jersey that left at least two people dead and two unaccounted for.
The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. in Buena, in southern New Jersey, according to Franklin Township police.
South Jersey Gas was alerted to a fire at the house and sent crews to assist first responders. The fire was doused and officials confirmed an explosion had occurred, leveling the house, and damaging nearby homes, Franklin Township Police Department Chief Matthew DeCesari said during a news conference.
A 1-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl were taken from the house and flown to a children’s hospital in Philadelphia. The infant was listed in critical condition while the teen was listed as stable, officials said Thursday night.
Two bodies were recovered from the debris and pronounced dead, while two people remain unaccounted for, according to ABC 6.
The identities of the deceased were not released, but officials earlier said two adult males and two children were among the missing. Chief DeCasari said the missing individuals are believed to be from one family, but a friend may have been staying at the home.
“In the residence was a two-and-a-half-year-old male, a three-and-a-half-year-old female and two adult males ages 52 and 73. At this point, two out of four individuals are still missing. We are working diligently to sift through that rubble and attempt to locate the other two individuals,” Chief DeCasari said.
No other injuries were reported.
DeCasari said the cause of the explosion was being investigated as a crime.
“It was an explosion, we don’t know what caused it,” he said. “We are treating it as a criminal investigation at this point until we determine otherwise.”
“This is just something that’s very tragic,” DeCesari said. “This is a small community. Everybody seems to know each other. And when you have an incident like this, it really hits everyone.”
Bystanders told ABC 6 that the explosion was loud enough to set off car alarms in the area.
“Flames, fire. As soon as we pulled out of our driveway it was like a big gulf of fire,” neighbor Jamie Henricksen told the station.
“I just heard like a loud boom, sound like a bomb went off and I went in the house and some things had actually shook in my house and fell off the wall so when I had came out my door, there was just black smoke everywhere,” Joshua Llerandi told CBS Philadelphia.
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