Six people were rescued after a house exploded early Saturday morning on the east side of Jefferson City.

Jefferson City firefighters responded to the explosion on the 2400 block of St. Louis Road at 2:44 am.

The EMS Chief Officer upgraded the call from a report of a house explosion to a Mass Casualty Incident.

Emergency crews worked to get the six people out of the house.

The Fire Department's Special Operations Rescue Team had to tunnel through layers of debris to reach the final person.

All of the residents were out of the debris by 5:52 am.

The injuries of the people involved ranged from moderate to severe.

Emergency workers had to drive two victims to Jefferson City Memorial Airport so they could be flown to University Hospital.

The other four were driven to the same hospital.

Rescuers also found two pets, who were taken to animal control.

The Jefferson City Fire Department and Jefferson City Police Department were joined in the response by Cole County EMS and mutual-aid resources from Osage, Callaway, and Mid-Mo Ambulance Districts, MU Air Medical, Mercy LifeLine, and AirEvac Lifeteam.

Jefferson City Public Works provided an excavator to help remove debris, which, according to a press release from the city, will continue all day.

Officials were still looking into the cause of the explosion.