PARIS, AR (KHBS/CNN) - The house is still standing, but the explosion blew off the front porch. What's left of it is in the front yard. Family members say a gas leak started in the back of the home and the explosion happened when the gas made contact with a pilot light.
A mother lived in the home with her four children and her boyfriend. Family members say she had just returned home from work when she discovered the unimaginable. She found out that her 2-year-old twin son did not survive the explosion and fire.
"This is a terrible tragedy, especially around the holiday season, so it makes it even worse when it happens like that,” a Red Cross official said on Thursday.
Right now, the Red Cross is helping the family with money for food and clothes. They'll also help with funeral expenses. "Any more help that we can provide to them, we will, in the next couple of days, we will be able to know a little bit more,” the Red Cross official said.
Neighbors are in shock about what happened in their normally quiet neighborhood. "The fire trucks and ambulances, that's the only thing that's happened in quite a while," a neighbor said.
"To lose a child like that, it's just horrible,” a woman said.
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