Apartment explosion kills 1, burns 2

An explosion started a fire in a high-rise apartment building Tuesday, killing one person and severely burning two others, officials said.

About 200 residents were evacuated after the blaze began in a third-floor unit at Royal Palm Apartments, west of downtown Miami, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Eddy Ballester said.

He said authorities were still trying to determine the cause of the explosion.

No one was inside the apartment at the time. The person who died was found in an adjacent unit.

Three apartments were damaged in the fire and explosion, and there was smoke damage throughout the hallways and adjacent apartments, Ballester said.

The conditions of the two injured people, both airlifted to a hospital with severe burns, were not immediately released. Firefighters rescued one woman from a balcony, and other residents were treated for smoke inhalation, Ballester said.