Flattens homes
Stuart Coe, one of those who heard the explosion, said: “We were sitting there having breakfast and the next thing we heard this almighty bang and literally everything shook in the house – the conservatory shook, it felt like the roof was shaking.
“Obviously, the kids were upset and crying, we didn’t know what was going on. And then we started fearing there had been an explosion and one of the neighbours believes she saw British Gas in the area yesterday.
“Within minutes of the explosion, we started hearing sirens coming down the road. It’s like a bomb going off… It was a pretty nasty event.”
Cloes Lane resident Gwenelt Mitchell, who is about 30 yards from the blast scene, was out taking her granddaughter to work at the time of the blast and was astonished to witness the aftermath on her return.
“I didn’t know anything about it until I had got home. There was a very come from the house, and we have had people from the gas and electricity boards here.”
Some 19 properties were evacuated following the blast, which caused debris to fly “in all directions, damaging windows and roofs” according to Essex Fire Service.
Assistant divisional officer Lee Palfreyman, the incident commander, said everyone had been accounted for, but firefighters used a search and rescue dog to ensure no casualities were buried beneath the rubble.
East of England Ambulance Service confirmed critical care had been given to two people at Broomfield Hospital, with eight others taken to Colchester General Hospital.
Colchester Hospital confirmed four of the casualties had been released.
Paul Hill, assistant chief fire officer for Essex, said: “As far as we understand at the moment, it involves domestic gas and all of our experience tells us that’s probably the cause. If we get through this event with no fatalities we’ll be overjoyed. This was an extremely powerful explosion and the adjoining properties have been left derelict.”