UPDATE: The Berkeley County Coroner’s Office has identified the three victims as 69-year-old Joseph Raeth, 19-year-old Morgan Abernathy, and 4-year-old Samuel Garbe.
Officials say they have found another body in the wreckage of a Goose Creek apartment complex that was consumed by a massive explosion and fire Thursday.
Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury says a third body was found and pulled from the rubble of the Pine Harbour complex in Goose Creek. The brings the total up to three dead in the fire, which witnesses say sent flames 40 to 50 feet into the air and formed billowing smoke that could be seen for miles.
Salisbury confirmed the body of a man and a child had also been pulled from the building Tuesday.
The State Law Enforcement Division is involved in the investigation. There were reported rumors among other residents that a meth lab was in operation at the complex. The Drug Enforcement Administration has been called in to help with the probe.
Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dan Moon says the apartment complex is now being treated as a crime scene.
A Red Cross spokeswoman said 46 people have been displaced by the fire. The organization has opened a shelter at the recreation center next to Goose Creek’s City Hall.
