A tight-knit Swansea community are pulling together to do their bit to help the victims of a devastating explosion which left one person dead and three others in hospital. Investigations are ongoing today into the cause of the incident at a property in Clydach Road, Morriston, which also damaged other houses in the area
Morriston Hospital said two adults and a child were brought to A&E after neighbours said they saw a boy being pulled from the rubble. Today, the road remains closed and traffic is being diverted amid "concerns over the gas main which is currently being made safe by contactors on site. The clean up operation has begun, and JCBs are shovelling piles of rubble onto the back of vans to be removed from the area.
The explosion, which took place at around 11.20am on Monday, March 13, has left people living nearby in shock at the tragedy on their doorsteps. Many in the community have now come together to do their bit to help those affected by the incident, with those efforts starting almost immediately after the incident. Get Swansea stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
READ MORE: Investigation resumes after explosion kills man with three in hospital
Committee members at Morriston Town Football Club threw themselves into doing what they could to help out immediately after learning of what had happened. One member said: “I was here when the explosion happened. I heard the bang, and there were tiles and parts of windowsills all over our pitch. The explosion cut our power off - everything was off until around 4pm when generators were brought in.
"Everyone gathered here last night first of all. There was a group of around 20, including two women in their nineties, and one in a wheelchair and one using a Zimmer frame. It needed two mini-buses to move the group to the community centre." A rest centre was later set up at Morriston Memorial Hall for residents unable to return to their homes.
The committee member continued: "We boiled a kettle on a Calor gas ring to get teas and coffees to everyone who was here. They were completely shocked by what happened. Everyone is just so upset, it’s devastating. It just does not seem real. Most of the people here are pensioners and they were worrying mainly about their medicines in the house, which the Red Cross has assisted with."
The football club decided to launch an appeal for people to bring in donations to help those who were impacted, and it received an amazing response, with bags of clothes, essentials and food items donated.
“We put a post on Facebook encouraging people to bring in donations which we are collecting here and the response has been unbelievable," added the committee member. "Everybody has been so kind. People have been leaving money and so many donations which we're going to be sorting into piles. Dalling’s shop has also been supplying sandwiches and whatever is needed. We’ve also set up a station here with teas and coffees, doughnuts and biscuits for the workers and we’ve been taking teas down to them.”
Schools in the Morriston area will also be doing their bit to raise money to help the victims on Friday, including Cwmrhydyceirw Primary School, Pentregraig, Clase, Morriston, Ynystawe, Glyncollen, together with Morriston Comprehensive School.
Head teacher of Cwmrhydyceirw Primary School, Darren Casker said: "The family who live next door, the youngest daughter is in our school in year five and the young lad, the 14-year-old, was an ex-pupil of ours as well, so that's why we've become involved because we have an association with the family. We heard the explosion in school even though we're based half a mile away. The demountable buildings in the school actually shook with the force of it.
"What we've decided to do, we've got Comic Relief on Friday, but given what happened yesterday we've decided to have a slight deviation and shift the focus and raise money not just for the family but everyone affected. When we see what we get in we can see how we can divide it up.
"Our parents shared it with the wider community in Morriston and given the community in Morriston being as it is, everyone has become involved. The cluster schools in Morriston have all been onto me this morning to say they are all going to do a similar thing to support the wider community.
"I did throw out a bit of a blanket e-mail to schools around Swansea saying what we planned to do, and if anyone would like to contribute, and the response from schools around Swansea has been amazing. We'll be doing a non-uniform day and we're hoping whatever we bring in on Friday will be a significant help to those families. Other schools will be doing a bake sale and various other fundraising activities.
"The marvellous thing is that the children are initiating this and I've heard that the children in schools were the ones who asked about it."
A business in Swansea city centre is also planning to do what it can. A post from the Upstart Crow bookshop read: "After reading the heartbreaking news about today’s explosion and a life lost, The Upstart Crow bookshop will be a dropping off point for donations, clothing etc. As my shop is tiny I would appreciate it if supplies can be collected on a daily basis. The Upstart Crow is in The High Street Arcade and open 11am -6pm."
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