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The Latest: Sixth body found in explosion debris

SILVER SPRING, Md. – The Latest on the search for victims of an apartment building explosion last week (all times local):

3 p.m.

The death toll has risen as searchers sift through the rubble from an explosion at a Maryland apartment building.

Montgomery County Police said Monday that a sixth body has been found in the debris of the Flower Branch apartments in Silver Spring. An explosion at the four-story building Wednesday night shook buildings more than a mile away. More than 30 people were injured.

Still, there was good news. Police said a 55-year-old man who had been unaccounted for, Oscar Ochoa, was located and is unharmed. That reduces the number of missing in the blast from eight to seven.

Police believe that the six bodies found correspond to those on the missing list, but the condition of the bodies has prevented authorities from making a positive identification thus far.

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11:30 a.m.

Searchers are continuing to look for bodies five days after a massive explosion at a Maryland apartment building where people said they had been smelling gas.

Authorities said eight people remain unaccounted for, and the identities of the five bodies found in the wreckage so far have not been determined, given their condition.

Montgomery County Police said Monday that the investigation is ongoing, and has been slowed by days of 100-degree heat and dangerous conditions in the rubble.

More than 30 people were injured in the explosion in Silver Spring late Wednesday, which shook homes more than a mile away. Police said the eight people unaccounted for range in age from 3 to 65. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause.

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