Indy neighborhood devastated by explosion

INDIANAPOLIS - A deafening explosion that leveled two homes and set two others ablaze forced about 200 people from a devastated Indianapolis neighborhood overnight. Authorities said one body was recovered after the flames were extinguished from the blast that shattered windows, crumpled walls and did other damage to dozens of other homes.

Two people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, said Lt. Bonnie Hensley, with the Indianapolis Fire Department.

"This looks like a war zone; it really does," Hensley told the Associated Press Sunday. "Police officers and fire department officials remain at the scene searching for other possible victims. They've brought in search lights as they look through the ruined homes."

Hensley declined to identify the only confirmed fatality, saying only that the body was found in one of the leveled homes.

The explosion at 11 p.m. Saturday destroyed two houses that were side by side and spread fire to two other nearby homes in the neighborhood on the south side of the city, she said. The blast was heard for miles all around.

She added that at least two dozen other homes on nearby blocks were damaged by flying debris from the leveled homes, as well as from the blast's shock wave.

Many people were asleep at the time and had to be evacuated in pajamas, scooping up their pets as they left hastily, authorities said. They left what some described as a chaotic scene of tall flames rising on the Indianapolis skyline.

The cause of the explosions remains unknown, authorities said. Investigators were expected to better assess the rubble after daybreak for clues to what happened. Meanwhile, all power, gas and other utilities were shut off as a precaution as emergency officials swarmed the site.