The wreckage of the house was where the bodies of a man and a woman were found. Their names have not been released. The Gloucester County prosecutor’s office told WPVI in Philadelphia that the deaths are “suspicious,” but they wouldn’t say more.
Authorities say the huge explosion and fire in New Jersey on Sunday that killed two people and destroyed a house was “not an accident.”
In the Gloucester County town of Washington Township early Sunday morning, there was a loud noise that sounded like a bomb going off.
An “ongoing criminal investigation” was started by the explosion, according to a statement from the Washington Township Police Department on Monday morning. The statement also said that the Gloucester County prosecutor’s office said the event was “not accidental.”
A statement from the Washington Township Police says that the explosion happened at 2:02 a.m. and that several neighbors called 911 to report a loud blast and fire near Tranquility Court and Orion Way.
“Responding officers arrived at 13 Tranquility Court and observed that the residence was fully engulfed in flames and appeared to have been heavily damaged by an apparent explosion,” as stated by the police.
According to the statement, firefighters from the Washington Township Fire Department got there soon after the cops and put out the fire.
The police, staff from Washington Township, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, and the New Jersey Fire Marshal’s Office are still looking into what caused the explosion.
“That boom was really loud.” I told them, “Something is wrong.” Jimmy Gibson told WPVI that he lives close to the house that blew up. “The whole house was in flames… as soon as the explosion happened.”
A video from WPVI shows damage to at least one house close to the lost house. The video also showed what looked like damage to a car from the blast.
Neighbors who live blocks from he explosion reported being rattled awake.
Suzanne Pinto, a neighbor, told WPVI, “It was huge, huge. It sounded like a bomb went off.”
A neighbor named Jill Rauf told WPVI that she, her husband, and their dog left their home when they heard the blast.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Rauf said, adding that the house that blew up was on fire.