Suspected gas explosion destroys three bedroom terraced cottage injuring parent and two children as witnesses tells of nearby houses ‘shaking’
- A suspected gas explosion left a cottage in Seven Sisters near Neath destroyed
- The roof was blown off the home and brickwork of the house was torn away
- One neighbour said: ‘It looks like something from the Blitz. It is a bomb site’
Advertisement
A suspected gas explosion injured a mother and two children and destroyed a three-bedroom house in a Welsh village today.
The roof was blown off the three-bedroom home in Seven Sisters near Neath, and brickwork at the front and back of the house was torn away.
One young boy was taken to hospital with burns but his mother and the other child were treated on the scene after the house was wrecked.
The injured are believed to have been in a neighbouring house at the time of the blast.
One neighbour, mother-of-two Karen Leyshon, 59, said it was a ‘miracle’ no-one was killed and the house now ‘looks like something from the Blitz’.
A suspected gas explosion left a terraced cottage in Seven Sisters near Neath destroyed, and South Wales Police are asking people to avoid Church Road due to the ‘serious incident’
A terrace house was completely destroyed and neighbouring properties damaged after a suspected gas explosion in Wales
Another, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I was working in the garden and heard it and thought ”What’s that” – the whole house shook. It was a huge bang.’
Neighbour Eileen Pugh, 87, said: ‘It is like something from the movies. There are helicopters overhead and it is just a terrible mess.
‘This is such a quiet village – you just wouldn’t believe it until you saw it with your own eyes.’
Another nieghbour David Phillips said: ‘It is carnage. We’ve heard the young boy has got burns but it is very lucky no-one was killed.’
Leighton Williams, a builder working on a property nearby when the incident happened.
One neighbour who did not want to be named said: ‘I was working in the garden and heard it and thought ”What’s that” – the whole house shook. It was a huge bang.’ Pictured: The aftermath of the explosion
Neighbour Eileen Pugh, 87, said: ‘It is like something from the movies. There are helicopters overhead and it is just a terrible mess.’ Pictured: Emergency services at the scene
He said he heard a loud noise and felt the ground shake.
‘We were all here working, and we heard it, everything shook. About ten of us ran down straight away and the whole house has gone. It was like something from a film,’ he said.
South Wales Police said emergency services were sent to the scene at 2pm following ‘numerous reports of an explosion’ – and officers are asking people to avoid Church Road following the ‘serious incident’.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service revealed no one was in the house at the time of the explosion.
A spokesman for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: ‘Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service are currently in attendance of an incident in Church Road, Seven Sisters.
‘The Fire Service received the first call at 2.05pm.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service revealed no one was in the house at the time of the explosion
Emergency services are at the scene of a ‘serious incident’ in Neath Port Talbot, South Wales
‘The incident is currently ongoing and we ask people to avoid the area at this time.’
A South Wales Police spokesman said: ‘A number of properties and vehicles in the street have been damaged and the area has been evacuated.
‘Three people, one adult and two children, have been injured in the incident.
‘We remain at scene with emergency service colleagues and ask people to continue to avoid the area at this time.’