1 person killed, 9 injured in Missouri house explosion; authorities say gas leak was likely cause
One person was killed and nine others injured Monday after a house exploded in a small southern Missouri city, authorities said, citing a gas leak as a likely cause.
Authorities responded to reports of a house exploding around 7 a.m. in Wyatt, Missouri, the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook .
Officials from the sheriff's office and the Charleston Department of Public Safety found 10 people injured at the scene. Victims ranged in age from 6 months old to mid-20s, the sheriff's office said.
The victims were taken to the hospital, each with serious to life-threatening injuries. Several victims were flown to hospitals in St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee.
INDIANA HOUSE EXPLOSION: Video captures house explosion that killed 3 in Evansville; coroner identifies victims
One victim, a man in his 20s, died from his injuries at a hospital. An autopsy will be scheduled this week, the sheriff's office said.
The garage of a neighboring home also caught fire, but no one inside was injured, Capt. Barry Morgan of the Mississippi County Sheriff's Office said.
“That is a ton of people in a house," Morgan said. “So that’s what we’re trying to determine: why there were so many people in there, because when I arrived on scene, it was just there was victims lying everywhere, badly burned."
A preliminary investigation showed a gas leak was the likely cause of the explosion, according to the office. It was not immediately clear where the gas leak was coming from.
Authorities were investigating if a water heater or a stove caused the leak, Morgan said.
HOUSE EXPLODES IN EVANSVILLE: 3 dead and nearby homes 'uninhabitable'
The Missouri State Fire Marshal Service and the Gas Commission will help investigate the explosion.
Last week, three people died in a house explosion in Evansville, Indiana that also damaged about 40 homes, leaving 11 uninhabitable. The cause of the explosion was still unknown Monday.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Missouri house explosion: 1 person dead, 9 injured
