Explosion levels half of apartment building in Washington DC suburb

Fire and rescue crews have "hope" for what appears, so far, to be no confirmed deaths in a massive explosion that levelled an apartment building and injured at least 10 residnts in suburb of Washington DC.

"Until everybody is accounted for we will not consider everyone out of the site," said Montgomery Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein.

"I’m feeling hope is what I’m feeling," he added.

Firefighters rescued multiple residents from the four-storey garden apartment building before it was "completely consumed" by flames, in what Mr Goldstein called a "miracle of activity".

Fire crews arrived at the Silver Spring apartment complex shortly after the explosion about 10.30 am local time Thursday morning.

Ten were taken to local hospitals with several suffering from serious injuries and the remainder having minor injuries.

One resident of the building told WUSA9 he woke up to flames in this third-floor apartment before fire and rescue crews helped him and his daughter escape.

Another said there was a smell of gas before “the whole building blew up and collapsed” with multiple people still inside.

“They got my grandma out, they got her out on a ladder truck,” he said. “I still got friends stuck in the building right now, the whole building came down. I’m scared for my grandma”.

This is a developing story.