Two are dead and another two are still missing after a house exploded in New Jersey on Thursday, police said. A young child and a teen also suffered burns caused by the explosion, police said.
Police responded to reports of a house fire around 10:35 AM in the South Jersey town of Buena, according to Franklin Township Police Chief Matthew DeCesari. It was confirmed to be because of an explosion.
A 1-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl were each flown to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia; the former in critical condition, the latter in stable condition.
Four other people are believed to have been in the house at the time of the explosion: a 2-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl, a 52-year-old man, and a 73-year-old man. Only two unidentified bodies have been recovered from the rubble.
The investigation is being deemed a criminal one at this early stage, according to DeCesari.
“We are treating it as a criminal investigation at this point until we determine otherwise,” DeCesari told reporters at a press briefing earlier on Thursday.
