Two people were killed and a third was injured after a house in an Ohio village exploded and caught fire Tuesday morning, officials said.
The home exploded at around 8:44 a.m. in Bethel, a village of around 2,600 southeast of Cincinnati, Bethel Fire Chief Christopher Cooper said at a news conference.
“It was a large explosion that had sent debris across the neighborhood,” Cooper said, describing the scene as chaotic.
The shock of the blast reverberated across the neighborhood, with one nearby homeowner telling NBC affiliate WLWT of Cincinnati that he felt a “shockwave” throughout his house.
Another neighbor, Stephanie Young, told the station, “You could feel it, it was louder than any boom I’ve ever heard. This was undeniably loud.”
She said she opened the door to her home and saw debris everywhere.
The cause of the fire and the blast is under investigation, Cooper said.
The property that exploded was a one-story ranch house that used propane instead of gas, he said. The person injured was described as a male suffering from burns.
