Woman's body found after house explosion on Detroit's east side

Woman killed in Saturday afternoon house explosion

Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms confirmed that a woman in her mid 40s was killed, and a 46-year-old man was burned when the house they were in exploded just before 4 p.m. July 5.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A woman was killed, and a man burned when the house they were in exploded shortly before 4 p.m. July 5.

Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms confirmed the injuries during a press conference.

The man was 46-years-old. The woman's exact age wasn't available, but Simms said she was in her early 40s.

At about 3:45 p.m. a house exploded in the 19400 block of McCormick Street on Detroit's east side. The house was in the area of I-94 and Moross. 

The cause of the explosion wasn't immediately known. Simms said that the cleanup will continue tomorrow at the residence, but said he didn't want to speculate on the cause of the explosion.

Multiple houses surrounding the one that exploded caught fire. 

"When we got here, the house had literally exploded," Detroit Fire Department Battalion Chief Brian Cross said. "There was a civilian that was in the grass burned." 

Cross said that person was taken to the hospital, while they fought the fires and searched for another person who was in the house. 

"We had four structures due to the explosion that were on fire," Cross said. 

Fire officials said at least three houses were damaged in the incident, along with a garage. 

Cross said there isn't any indication of what caused the fire, but the resident who was injured was cooking.

"He went back to the kitchen, the kitchen was on fire," Cross said. "When I got on the scene that structure was a ball of fire."

Officials said that one person got out of the house that exploded, and they were still searching for another as of 6:30 p.m.