Mother, 6 children killed in explosion and fire at rural Pennsylvania home

Police said a propane leak inside the Amish family’s home may have caused the explosion. The children were aged from 3 to 11

An Amish woman and her six children ranging in age from three to 11 were killed in a swift-moving house fire after an explosion that shook nearby houses in rural north-central Pennsylvania, authorities said on Monday.

Firefighters responding to a report of an explosion and fire at a home in Lamar Township in Clinton County near Mill Hall on Sunday morning said seven people were trapped, but they could not search the house engulfed in flames, Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement.

All seven died. Police identified them as Sarah Stoltzfus, 34, four sons, ages 11, 10, 5 and 3, and two daughters, ages 8 and 6.

An obituary posted online by a local funeral home identified Stoltzfus as a member of the Old Order Amish Church community. She is survived by her husband, David Stoltzfus, it said.

A police report issued earlier gave the spelling of her last name as Stolzfus.

The cause is under investigation. A propane leak inside the home may have caused the explosion and fire, police said, noting that exterior propane tanks did not explode and were not contributing factors for the explosion and fire.