Moment mystery blast tore family’s home apart
A HUGE pall of black smoke billows into the air after a mystery blast tore through a terraced house.
A neighbour captured the scene on camera seconds after the explosion ripped the property’s front door off its hinges and sent parts of the roof 100ft in the air.
A mother and her teenage son were among five people injured when the threebedroom property was hit by the blast. Sabrina Burns, her son Jordan Ford, 18, and his three friends managed to escape the wreckage.
All five were in hospital last night – two of them with life-threatening injuries. Neighbours found Mrs Burns, 37, collapsed on the pavement outside screaming, ‘someone, please help me, help me’.
Quick-thinking homeowners tried to give first aid to the victims while waiting for 999 crews to arrive at the scene in Llanbradach, near Caerphilly, South Wales.
The blast happened at around 5.30pm on Monday and 25 firefighters were still tackling the blaze at 2am the next morning.
One casualty was airlifted to Birmingham for specialist treatment while the other four were taken to hospitals in Cardiff and Swansea. Investigators are now trying to work out what caused the explosion, which destroyed the home, although gas was ruled out by a utility company.
Neighbour Mandy Short, 55, yesterday described how she used her garden hose to pour water on trainee plasterer Jordan after he was injured in the blast.
She said: ‘People had wrapped him in cling film and he had a wet towel on his back. I have a hose so we were using that to pour water over him. It was terrible, you could hear them screaming.’
Jess Lewis, 23, added: ‘I heard three loud bangs, I thought it was kids playing but then I heard a woman screaming saying, “Someone please help me, help me”. The woman was sitting on the pavement outside my house. She was badly burned. Neighbours were pouring water over her and the other people hurt. The front door of the house had blown out into the road.’
Michelle Burrow, 34, said she heard a series of explosions. ‘The fire just tore through the house and went up through the roof in minutes,’ she said. ‘Even if the emergency services were on the doorstep I don’t think they would have been able to salvage anything.’
Another neighbour added: ‘To see the damage it’s done, it’s a miracle anyone was able to walk out alive.’ Mrs Burns’s partner Jason Ford, 39, was on his way home from work at the time of the explosion.