A woman who lives in the street where a gas explosion left two teenagers seriously injured has spoken of the "frightening" scenes as they waited for emergency services to arrive at the scene. The woman says she was at home on Wednesday night when she heard a "loud" shudder around 10.20pm followed by screaming.
Five people were in the house in Glanmor Gardens, Dowlais, Merthyr, when what is understood to be a gas explosion rocked the house, leaving it badly damaged. Two people – a man aged 19 and a woman aged 18 – were rushed to hospital with serious injuries. A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive, who are investigating the cause, said there were five people in the house at the time. Live updates from the scene here.
A spokesperson said: “HSE has been made aware of a suspected gas explosion in a family home in Merthyr Tydfil. There were five people in the house at the time and they were all taken to hospital. Two people remain in hospital with burn injuries, these are not believed to be life threatening. HSE is investigating the cause of the explosion.”
Homes nearby were damaged and those properties had to be evacuated. South Wales Fire and Rescue said that five people in total were evacuated and taken to hospital.
One neighbour said she went out when she heard the screaming and described how neighbours were quick to help. The 33-year-old said: "We could just hear screaming. I came to the doorstep and that’s when I could hear a man screaming: ‘Call 999’. I walked to the end of the drive and I could just see the family outside, just screaming and completely distressed. All the neighbours started coming out then and we ran up and they said there had been an explosion.”
She added that one neighbour called 999 while the others checked if the injured family were OK, giving them blankets as they stood in their pyjamas in the “freezing” cold and staying with them until the emergency services came.
Asked what the house looked like, she said the house wasn’t on fire but there was smoke and you could see the extent of the “destruction” when you went up close to the house. The mum-of-three said her eldest son helped bring blankets and dressing gowns to the family. She said he has been particularly affected by the incident: “It was so frightening. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It was just awful."
Council staff and gas engineers have been at the site on Thursday afternoon as the investigation into the cause gets underway.
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