WILSON, N.Y. (AP/CBS) - Authorities said a girl has been killed and four family members are hospitalized after their western New York home was leveled by an explosion.
The Niagara County Sheriff's Office says the blast occurred around 6 a.m. Tuesday at a home in the rural town of Wilson, on Lake Ontario about 30 miles north of Buffalo.
Undersheriff Michael Filicetti said Sarah Johnson's body was found in the debris. Authorities aren't sure of her age but believe she was between 12 and 14.
Filicetti said her parents and two siblings were blown clear and were found in the front yard by the first deputy to arrive on the scene. He said all four are being treated at a Buffalo hospital for serious injuries.
Authorities said the home used propane tanks but the cause of the explosion isn't known yet.
About a hundred emergency personnel were on the scene of the explosion, WIVB-TV reports. Crews have not determined what caused the blast that neighbors could hear and feel more than a mile away.
Neighbors told WIVB-TV they felt their house shake and went outside to see a ball of flames and thick black smoke.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press/CBS News Interactive. All Rights Reserved.)
Firefighters search through the rubble of a home leveled by an explosion in Wilson, N.Y., July 24, 2012. (WIVB-TV)
