MADISON TWP., OH (WCMH) – A woman is dead and a man remains hospitalized following an explosion in Madison Township early Monday morning.

The explosion leveled a house on Everson Road, south of Chatterton Road and east of Noe-Bixby Road.

According to the Madison Township Fire Department, 59-year-old Stewart Bell and 54-year-old Shelly Williams were taken to OSU’s Wexner Medical Center.

According to the fire department, Williams died Monday afternoon.

As of 4:45pm Monday, Bell remains hospitalized.

Neighbors said they heard the explosion just before 4am and rushed out to help.

Only one house separates David Couch from the house where the explosion took place. He said he was sleeping at the time and thought the noise he heard could have been a lightning strike.

“The house had completely collapsed,” Couch said.

He told his two children, ages seven and 10, to stay inside the house. He and his neighbors helped pull a man and woman from the rubble.

“They were shell-shocked, obviously they were hurt, and so we tried to get them to safety, away from the house,” Couch said.

Shortly afterward, the fire began. Firefighters fought the flames until Columbia Gas crews shut off the valve to that house and a neighboring house.

Chief Robert Bates of the Madison Twp. Fire Dept wouldn’t speculate on a cause. The Investigators from Madison Township, the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Public Utilities Commission are continuing the investigation.

“Safe to say there was an explosion, but when the investigators get here, they’ll go through that and we’ll get that figured out,” Bates said.

The focus for neighbors remains on making sure the two victims are safe.

“Thanking God every second that, one, my kids were OK and that we actually found them alive, which, just kind of looking at that damage, it’s just amazing that that actually happened,” Couch said.