A 38-year-old man and his 12-year-old son are among five people killed in a house explosion in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

The 12 August blast in Plum, a Pittsburgh suburb, left three others injured, including one person in critical condition.

Three other structures in the neighbourhood were destroyed and at least a dozen others damaged.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the explosion.

According to officials in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, police and firefighters responding to a 911 calls “arrived on scene and reported that there were people trapped under debris”.

“It appeared as if one house had exploded, and two others were engulfed in fire. Multiple other homes were damaged with windows blown out,” they said in a Facebook post.

Doorbell camera footage – which has not been independently verified by the BBC – shows a massive explosion sending smoke and debris into the sky above the neighbourhood.

Five bodies were later recovered from the scene.

Officials say it is still unclear who was home and if any visitors were in the area at the time, complicating efforts to identify the dead.

“ID is expected to take some time as it will involve use of dental records, and potentially DNA, for formal identification,” Allegheny County said on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter.

While officials have not publicly named any of the victims, family members identified Casey Clontz and his son, Keegan, as being among the five killed.

Mr Clontz and his son lived four houses away from the scene of the explosion. It is unclear why they were there, although family members told local news outlet TribLive that they were likely visiting neighbours.

Additionally, an online fundraiser has been set up for the Oravitz family, which owned the property where the explosion took place. It is unclear if any members of the family are among the dead.

Crews from at least 18 local fire departments were needed to douse the flames. More than 50 firefighters were treated at the scene for minor issues, primarily heat exhaustion.

Local police and fire officials are investigating the cause of the explosion alongside staff from the local utility company and state public utilities commission.

Officials told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that the probe will be a “slow and long process” that could potentially take months, even years. to complete.

One resident, Rafal Kolankowski, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the explosion shattered windows in his house and knocked him and his wife down.

“It’s just tragic, I mean, it looks like a war zone — it looks like a bomb hit our neighborhood and it’s just unfortunate,” Mr Kolankowski was quoted as saying.

“I was just with some of the neighbors yesterday, right, and now this happens.”