YATES CENTER ? Oil tank explosions in rural southeast Kansas sparked a raging fire that killed two people Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The Woodson County Sheriff’s Department received a call reporting the fire at 9:18 a.m., Sheriff David L. Waddell said in a prepared statement.

Authorities said emergency, fire and law enforcement officials were dispatched to the oil field about 10 miles west of Yates Center, where they found numerous crude oil tanks engulfed in flames.

Once the fire was extinguished and emergency workers could approach the tanks, they discovered the two badly burned bodies, Waddell said.

The names of the victims have not been released.

Rose Roxmiarek, chief of investigations for the state fire marshal’s office, said the explosion happened at a type of storage facility commonly referred to as a “tank battery farm.”

She said two investigators from her office were at the scene. But she could offer no other details, including the name of the facility’s owner.

Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also are assisting in the investigation.

“From what I’ve been told, they do believe it was an accidental explosion,” said Paul Marquardt, a spokesman for the agency.

“They do not believe it was a criminal act.”