2 killed in Ohio home explosion, cause under investigation
An explosion at an Ohio home on Tuesday killed two people and injured another, sending debris flying throughout the community, authorities said.
It’s unclear what caused the explosion in Bethel, which occurred around 9 a.m. and caused a house fire.
“I just heard a loud bang and then I looked out the window and it went away,” one 911 caller said.
Some residents said the blast shook their homes and caused minor damage.
“Feeling the shock wave, I fell out of bed,” neighbor Derrick Gullett told CBS affiliate WKRC. “Getting dressed, walked outside to see what was going on. When I walked outside By then, it was snowing outside. The pieces of the house were in my driveway, in my yard.”
Neighbors captured the aftermath of the fire on cellphone video and searched for victims.
“I was trying to listen to, like, maybe they were under the rubble,” neighbor Stephanie Young told WKRC. “Because the whole house was like a pile of wood, insulator.”
Bethel Tate Fire Chief Christopher Cooper said a man and a woman were killed in the explosion. Another man suffered burns and was being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, he said.
“He ran from the residence,” Goulet said of the survivor. “His hair was still on fire. We gave him water and tried to calm him down.”
The names of the three have not been released and it is unclear if any of them lived at the home.
“We are searching through the rubble to try to find the source of the fire,” Cooper told reporters.
The Ohio Fire Marshal will lead the investigation into the explosion. Bethel is a village in Tate Township in southwestern Ohio.
