New York Daily News
(TNS)
Two young boys were killed after a home exploded in a rural area in eastern Missouri Friday morning, authorities said.
Police responded to reports of an explosion in Defiance, just west of St. Louis, around 7:45 a.m.
Officers arrived to the scene about five minutes later and found a home engulfed in flames, St. Charles County Police Department Cpl. Barry Bayles told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Two adults who lived in the home were able to escape. One wasn’t hurt, while the other was treated at the scene for a minor injury. A St. Charles County officer also suffered a minor injury, local television station KSDK reported.
The two children, however, became trapped inside the house.
Firefighters, who arrived just minutes later, were able to make contact with the kids. But the flames and smoke prevented them from getting to the young victims in time to save them.
“They went into the building through a window and did a quick, hasty search trying to find the children,” New Melle Fire Protection District Chief Dan Casey said. “They weren’t able to find them right away due to the fire conditions.”
The boys were said to be 4 and 6 years old, according to Bayles. Authorities have not released their names.
According to a GoFundMe page set up on behalf of the family, the boys were known for “their enthusiasm for life and the joy they brought to all around them.”
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
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