Body found following explosion in underground utility vault in Richmond

The body of a person was found following an explosion in an underground utility vault in Richmond Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Richmond Fire Department Deputy Chief Aaron Osorio told CBS News Bay Area a call came in at about 3 a.m. for an explosion in the area of Cutting Boulevard and S. 2nd Street.

Osorio said when fire units arrived there was a body inside the underground vault. A preliminary investigation showed the vault was being used by unhoused persons, the department said.

Richmond police said the department received a call at about 2:30 a.m. about a copper theft in the vault or in the area of the vault and that there was an explosion. It's believed the call came from one of the people involved in the alleged copper theft, spokesperson Lynnelle Sanchez said.

A second explosion was reported at the time of the call, Sanchez added.

Both police and fire units were still at the scene as of 11 a.m. as were crews from Pacific Gas and Electric.

Fire units were not able to immediately recover the body as there was water in the vault following the explosion and the department was waiting on PG&E to reroute electricity, Osorio said.

Power was reported out to a handful of PG&E customers just north of the area as of 5:18 a.m., and another three dozen customers who lost power at 8:23 a.m., the utility's outage map indicated .

This is a breaking news update. More information to be added as available.