4 people killed in Michigan house explosion
Dec 31, 2023, 5:44 PM
(WXYZ)
(CNN) — Four people were killed and two others injured when a house exploded in Michigan Saturday, officials told CNN.
“It went off like a bomb. I don’t know how to explain it,” an unnamed neighbor who was nearby at the time told CNN affiliate WDIV. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”
The explosion, which leveled the home, happened around 3:50 p.m. Saturday in Washtenaw County, approximately 10 miles north of Ann Arbor.
Officers received a call reporting debris found near Highway 23, adjacent to the street where the explosion occurred, Northfield Township police Lt. David Powell told WDIV.
“Upon arrival, police and fire personnel found a single-family residence to be completely destroyed with a debris field covering approximately 2 acres of the property,” Powell said in a statement on Sunday.
First responders were told there were six occupants in the house at the time of the explosion. Three were found deceased at the scene, three others were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. One of the three people taken to the hospital died of injuries sustained in the explosion, the statement said.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation and could take several days, police said.
“It sounded like something I remember from war,” said Scott McMillian, who lives about a mile from the house, told CNN affiliate WXYZ. “It was that loud.”
This story has been updated with additional information.