This Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016 shows the Piney Branch Road apartment fire with structural collapse in Silver Spring, Md.
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Police say a third body has been found in a Maryland apartment building that was the scene of an explosion and fire. Two bodies were recovered Thursday and another one was found Friday.
“When we arrived on the scene, we found people doing rescues using ladders from construction and paint trucks”, Goldstein said.
Search and recovery efforts were continuing over the weekend for several residents still missing.
Thirty-one residents and three firefighters were transferred to local hospitals with non life-threatening injuries, officials said.
“We can not determine the age or gender of people we took out of the Arliss Avenue address due to the conditions of the bodies”, Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said.
Fire officials say search efforts have been slowed because the building is in danger of collapse and needs to be shored up.
At least two people were confirmed dead in the fireball late Wednesday at an apartment complex in Silver Spring, a suburb north of the nation’s capital. But officials have not been able to positively identify the bodies.
Two children are included in those who are missing. Police later said they don’t have a firm number.
On Friday, authorities were still working to determine the cause of the blast. When asked about reports of the smell of gas in the area before the explosion, officials said they are at the preliminary stages of investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was assisting the investigation.
Mariama Turay, who has lived in the apartment complex for 30 years and spent the night in the shelter, said she chooses to view the explosion as a blessing, so loud that it woke everyone up and alerted them to get out.
In a news conference Friday, police said they still did not know how many residents were still unaccounted for, calling for the public’s help in identifying and locating them.
At least 31 people were wounded, including three firefighters, from the blast and three-alarm fire.
County officials were trying to help anxious family members account for missing loved ones.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said that a call about gas was made on July 25, but officials were still gathering information whether other complaints were made.
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Many people reported hearing an explosion that shook nearby buildings and it was even felt by people about a mile away from the complex.
