An explosion at an Ohio home Tuesday killed two people, injured one and sent debris flying throughout a neighborhood, authorities said.
It’s not yet known what caused the blast in Bethel, which happened shortly before 9 a.m. and set the home on fire.
“I just heard a big boom, and I looked out the window and it was gone,” a 911 caller said.
Several residents said the explosion shook their homes and caused minor damage.
“Felt the shockwave, fell out of bed,” neighbor Derrick Gullett told CBS affiliate WKRC. “Got dressed and went outside to see what happened. And as I went outside it was snowing insulation. Pieces of the house in my driveway, in my yard.”
Neighbors captured the fiery aftermath on cell phone video and also searched for victims.
“I was trying to listen, like, maybe if they were under the rubble,” neighbor Stephanie Young told WKRC. “Because the whole house was just like a pile of wood, insulation.”
A man and a woman were killed in the blast, Bethel Tate Fire Chief Christopher Cooper said. Another man suffered burns and was being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, he said.
“He comes running from the residence,” Gullet said of the survivor. “His hair was still on fire. We gave him water, tried to calm him down.”
The names of the three people have not been released, and it wasn’t immediately clear if any of them lived at the home.
“We’re sifting through debris, we’re trying to figure out where the fire started,” Cooper told reporters.
The Ohio State Fire Marshal will lead the investigation into the blast. Bethel is a village in Tate Township in southwestern Ohio.
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