Kamal Ghorui
A mother and her six young children have died after a powerful explosion tore through their home in central Pennsylvania, leaving it engulfed in flames before rescuers could reach them.Emergency crews were called to a house in Lamar Township, in Clinton County near Mill Hall, on Sunday morning following reports of a blast and fire. When firefighters arrived, they found the property completely ablaze and confirmed that seven people were trapped inside.According to Pennsylvania State Police, the intensity of the fire made it impossible for crews to enter the building in time. All seven occupants died at the scene.Police later identified the victims as 34-year-old Sarah Stolzfus and her six children, four sons aged 11, 10, 5 and 3, and two daughters aged 8 and 6.Investigators are still working to determine the exact cause of the explosion, but early indications suggest a propane leak inside the home may have triggered the blast. Authorities said propane tanks located outside the house did not explode and were not a factor.A neighbour, Christina Duck, described the moment the explosion happened while speaking to WNEP-TV.“And I heard a boom and I could feel it and I got up and looked out the window and I could see the flames through the windows and I come running outside and within a minute the whole house was completely engulfed,” Duck said.She added that the family had only moved into the home a few months earlier and that she often saw the children playing outside.
