‘Suspicious’ house blast sounded like earthquake
A NEIGHBOUR has described how his family awoke to an almighty “boom” as the house next door exploded in the dead of night.
Tony Uthayeakumar lives with his wife and two daughters in St Nicholas Road, St Pauls, Bristol, where police are currently investigating a “suspicious” house explosion.
The 55-year-old told how they ran out onto the street just before 2am yesterday morning, barefoot and wearing only their nightwear in their rush to get to safety.
Speaking from the police cordon yesterday, he said: “I have never known a sound like that – it was a ‘boom!’ Like a petrol bomb.
“The first thing I thought was that there was an earthquake. My house alarm started going off.
“My daughter came in and said there was a fire. After that I said to everyone ‘get up!’.”
Tony has lived there for 16 years in the council property. His family are staying in a hotel until they know if their home is structurally safe to return to.
One of his daughters is a sixth former, and the other is a medicine student home from university for the Easter break.
Avon and Somerset Police are treating the explosion as “suspicious”, but said no one was injured.
Tony said he rushed to the window just before he fled outside, and saw a man jumping through the garden and breaking down a fence panel, although he did not get a clear look at him.
Gas and electricity workers have been on scene and were still digging up the road yesterday afternoon.
Scaffolding has been put up outside while engineers investigate the damage and ascertain if it is structurally safe.
In a statement at 2pm, Avon Fire and Rescue Service said the cause of the fire was “unknown”.
Police have asked anyone with information to call 101 quoting reference number 5221074539.