A fifth body has been found at the Silver Spring apartment complex that was rocked last week by an explosion and fire.
Eight people are unaccounted for, Montgomery County fire officials said Sunday. Among those still missing were two young boys, ages 3 and 8.
The cause of the explosion remained under investigation.
Two bodies were found Thursday and a third was recovered Friday, police said. Search crews found the fourth body Saturday afternoon and the fifth Sunday afternoon, police said.
Those victims have not been identified. Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said that the condition of the bodies made it impossible to determine their age or sex.
More than 100 local and federal officials worked in dangerously high temperatures Sunday to search for the missing and to gather evidence to determine the cause of the explosion, said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. Officials urged the public to be patient as the heat and concerns about the structure collapsing slowed their efforts.
"We would like to do this more quickly," said Dave Steckel, the county's acting fire chief. "We just simply can't. It's too dangerous. We have to be very careful and methodical with what we do so we don't make this tragedy worse than it already is."
Also slowing the investigation was the difficulty of determining exactly who lived in the complex, and who was there at the time of the explosion. In some cases, police said, more people might have lived in an apartment than were listed in the official records.
Hamill said investigators had accounted for about 110 residents. He said investigators were asking family and friends to contact them "until we can account for everyone who is in the building."
Authorities identified the people who were still missing Sunday as Saeda Ibrahim, 41, Augusto Jimenez Sr., 62, Maria Auxiliadorai Castellon-Martinez, 53, Aseged Mekonen, 34, Deibi "David" Samir Lainez Morales, 8, Oscar Armando Ochoa, 55, Fernando Josue Hernandez Orellana, 3, and Saul Paniagua, 65.
The Montgomery County Police Department said those people were believed to have been in one of the apartment buildings at the time of the explosion. Police said detectives had not been able to confirm that Ochoa was in the building at the time of the fire.
Authorities urged anyone with information on the whereabouts of those missing to contact law enforcement.
Witnesses compared the explosion to a bomb going off, and people more than a mile away reported their homes shaking. Debris was scattered over 100 yards, a door was blown across a two-lane road and parking lot, and clothes hung from a tree like Christmas decorations.
In a 911 call released Friday, a dispatcher asked the caller the street number of the building on fire.
"There's no number on it now," the caller responded. "The whole apartment is on fire, from bottom to top. It blew up. Everything's collapsed."
Residents reported smelling gas before the explosion. Officials responded to calls for a potential gas leak at the complex last month.
Among those injured were three firefighters who were treated and released Thursday. Officials described heroic efforts to save people trapped in the fire.
Reporting from The Associated Press and Baltimore Sun contributed to this article.