Vermont: Mother and son, Sarah and Liam O’Sullivan, perish as home explodes during birthday party celebration

A mother and son have been killed and three others seriously injured after a house exploded during a birthday party in Vermont.

Sarah Sullivan, 46, and her son, Liam Sullivan, 20, died after the blast at a home on Connecticut Trail in the rural town of Granville on Saturday night.

Emergency services raced to the property about 7.45pm after reports a property had exploded. At the scene, first responders discovered Ms Sullivan and her son in a serious condition at the destroyed house, local police said.

Despite desperate first aid attempts to save Mr Sullivan, police officers pronounced him dead at the scene.

Ms Sullivan was rushed to Gifford Medical Center in Randolph to receive urgent medical care, but sadly died after her arrival.

The catastrophic blast also injured three other people, including Shiela Hammond, 69, who was critically hurt. All three of the wounded were taken to hospital.

“She remains hospitalised in critical condition and is receiving care out of state,” Vermont State Police said in a statement.

Photos from the scene show the catastrophic aftermath, with the home reduced to ruins and debris strewn across the surrounding property.

Neighbour Brenda Buker described the shocking moment she heard a “loud boom” while she was hosting friends for dinner.

“We heard a loud boom and stopped mid-sentence, didn’t know what had happened,” she told WCAX.

“It was really loud. It shook the house. My husband was in the kitchen and things fell off the walls, and he came out and said, ‘What was that?’”

Ms Buker said she initially thought the explosion came from fireworks she had heard the previous night until she learnt of the devastating reality the following morning.

“It’s really rural, you know, you don’t even see your neighbours’ houses right here, so Granville very rarely hits the news, so this was unusual,” she said.

“But we really thought it was related to the fireworks, had no idea that it had been a house explosion, and we didn’t find that out until the morning, unfortunately.”

Although Ms Buker’s property was unscathed by the explosion, other neighbours reported shattered windows from the blast.

“But it was of an impact that you knew something had, that it was a really serious explosion, and I could smell something in the air as well about five minutes after it had happened,” Ms Buker said.

Detectives have since determined that the explosion was accidentally caused by a propane leak inside the home.

“The Department of Public safety Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit has classified the explosion in Granville as accidental,” the force said.