SILVER SPRING, Md., Aug. 14 (UPI) — A fourth body has been found in the rubble of an explosion and fire of an apartment building and at least four people are missing, Montgomery County officials said Sunday.
The latest victim was found Saturday. All of the dead were taken to the medical examiner’s office in Baltimore, police said.
Police said eight people were in the apartment building at the time of the explosion. The four bodies have not been positively identified.
The missing range in age from 3- to 65-years-old, and include two women, four men and two children.
Unstable conditions at the apartment complex and extreme heat have slowed the search for more victims.
The explosion and fire occurred around 11:50 p.m. Thursday at the Flower Branch Apartments, injuring 31 residents and three firefighters.
Police have accounted for about 110 people who lived in the complex, Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said.
Residents reported smelling gas before the explosion, and officials responded to a potential gas leak at the complex on July 25. “We too believe there might be some connection to the natural gas but that has not been confirmed,” Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett told WTOP on Friday.
Each apartment includes gas stoves and furnaces.
Many who lived in the Flower Branch Apartments recently moved from Guatemala and El Salvador.
