A block of flats was blown apart after an explosion in Skelmersdale.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, the North West Ambulance Service, and Lancashire Police rushed to Tanfields in Skelmersdale after receiving a call at around 6pm following an explosion at a property. Once at the scene emergency services found a block of flats completely blown apart.
Pictures sent to the ECHO show the back of the flats, and you can see a fridge freezer hanging from the wreckage along with a two seater couch. Five people were inside the flats when the explosion occurred.
Read more Live updates as block of flats explode and emergency services rush to scene
Three of those were rushed to hospital as a precaution. Nobody is believed to have been seriously injured in the incident. Lancashire Council, the fire service and police are working together to assess the damage and see how many properties need to be evacuated.
We are waiting for more information on the number of people who were evacuated.
One eyewitness who lives behind the flats and asked not to be named said they heard a ‘loud bang’ that ‘shook the windows’ at around 6pm. They said: “I was just sat in my house when I heard this loud bang, it shook the windows.
"I didn’t think anything of it and then I started hearing sirens and a helicopter. I looked out my window and saw loads of blue lights flashing. I went out the back of my house and saw the back wall of the flats had exploded.
“Then police started typing off the road.”
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