Death toll rises to 4 in South Jersey house explosion
A third and fourth body were recovered Friday from the rubble of a house destroyed in an explosion the day before in Buena Borough, Atlantic County, police said.
A total of four people have been confirmed dead after two bodies were recovered Friday from the rubble of a house destroyed in an explosion the day before in Buena Borough, Atlantic County, police said.
A 1-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl suffered severe burns and other injuries in the blast and were taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, police said. On Friday, the toddler was still listed in critical condition while the teen was reported in stable condition, police said.
No identifying descriptions have been provided by authorities, but Matthew DeCesari, chief of the Franklin Township Police Department, said Thursday evening that the four people initially reported missing included a 2½-year-old boy, a 3½-year-old girl, and two men, ages 73 and 52.
DeCesari said no one else was reported missing. Police were told that a total of six people were inside the house when the explosion occurred.
Shortly after 10:30 a.m. Thursday, first responders were sent to a residential fire on the 300 block of Northwest Boulevard in Buena Borough, DeCesari said. Although Franklin Township is based in Gloucester County, its police department patrols Buena Borough.
“The first responding officers were on scene within three minutes of being dispatched and reported the residential dwelling was [fully] engulfed in flames,” Franklin Township police said in a news release posted Friday evening on Facebook.
Police said the injured teen and toddler were rescued from the fire by civilians.
The third body was recovered Thursday night with the help of a K-9 unit from the New Jersey State Police, and the fourth body was located around 2 p.m. Friday by rescue crews, police said.
The site of the explosion was being treated as a crime scene until a cause is determined, police said.
Multiple area fire departments responded to the scene, as did the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, Office of Emergency Management, and county bomb squad. The lead investigators are the Franklin Township police and Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. The FBI and ATF also are assisting with the investigation.
Several other houses on the block were damaged by the blast, police said.