In the rural Southeast Texas town of Dobbin, a massive explosion decimated a house on Tuesday, wounding two women and an infant who were inside.
The blast occurred at around 8:20 a.m., the Associated Press reported. According to a statement released by the Montgomery County Fire Marshal's Office shortly after the event, investigators at the scene wager the explosion was due to a propane leak. Tremors were felt up to 20 miles away from the gas leak.
"We have a debris field. It's about 300 feet wide," Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams told the AP. "We have parts of the home scattered and in the trees. All of that is consistent with a gas explosion."
65-year-old Lena Mock Knight, her 58-year-old sister Jennifer Mock, and 8-month-old grandson Wyatt Smith were identified as the injured parties.
Wyatt was taken by air to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, as Knight and Mock were moved to the Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.
All three of the injured sustained serious wounds, including burns and broken bones, the fire marshal said in the statement.
Phyllis Hamilton, one of the sisters of the injured women, said that the two were making breakfast when the home blew up.
"The propane tank had a leak, and they had just filled it up and they think all the propane leaked out," she said. "They went to light the stove and it blew up."
The refrigerator burst skyward like a spacecraft lifting off, then landed on a vehicle located outside. Windows of houses and businesses nearby got blown out from the blast.
A relative of the injured, Corbin Mock, claimed that the remains of the household were strewn about town.
"People were finding things from the house on top of the grocery store, in trees, and at least a half mile away," Mock said.
