Explosion in Detroit apartment building leaves three suffering horrific burns with 12 trapped inside

Twelve people including five kids have been hospitalized after an explosion rocked a Detroit apartment building.

Monday morning’s blast on the West Side of the Michigan city also left six adults and six children trapped inside the ruined red brick structure.

Locals likened the sound of the 3:15am explosion to a bomb blast, Fox2 reported. 

Desperate residents were discovered clinging to window ledges when first responders arrived, CBS reports. 

Investigators say they don’t know what caused the blast. There was very little fire and no smell of gas before the incident, eyewitnesses said. 

The three worst-injured victims include a 30 year-old man who suffered burns to 90 percent of his body.

A 27 year-old woman suffered burns to 20 to 40 percent of her body, while a three year-old girl suffered burns to 15 percent of her body. 

All three were in the same apartment, but no further details on their identities or relationship to each other was given. 

The damage is so severe that the building will need to be demolished, officials said

Grim photos of the aftermath show how the explosion sheared a large section of the front wall away from the building’s roof and hurled bricks over cars parked on the curb. 

Firefighters believe they have rescued everyone trapped in the building, including one man who had to be pulled from a basement.

They will now work to stabilize the ruins of the structure and investigate what caused the blast. 

‘I thought it was just somebody had crashed into the building literally, but then you look at it and there’s no fire, there’s none of that,’ apartment resident Steffen Moore, told Fox2.

‘It sounded like a bomb. Because I didn’t smell any smoke, I don’t see any fire. You don’t smell any chemicals.’

Executive fire commissioner Chuck Sims said around 60 first responders were mobilized to the area.

‘They had people at the windows  kind of hanging off, ready to jump,’ he told reporters.

Twelve people including five kids have been hospitalized following the explosion

The 13000 block of Littlefield Street before the explosion on Monday morning

 Firefighters used ladders to reach those trapped on upper floors and pulled at least one person from the basement.

‘Without their fast response and fast reaction, this could have been a lot worse,’ Sims said of the initial response. 

Officials told the Detroit Free Press that the damage is so severe the building will need to be demolished. 

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