Three people have died and four taken to hospital as a care home in Dorset was evacuated and a hazard response team called.
A vast emergency response was mobilised to deal with the major incident in Swanage on Wednesday morning, with Dorset Police confirming the fatalities at Gainsborough Care Home shortly after 1pm.
An investigation has been launched because their deaths are being treated as “unexplained”, police said, adding: “Four other people have been taken to hospital as a precaution and other residents of the address have been evacuated to a safe location as emergency services respond to the incident.
“There remains a significant multi-agency presence in place at the address and a cordon remains in place as we work with partners to carry out further enquiries. At this time there is nothing to indicate any risk to the wider public.”
People living near the scene in Ulwell Road saw Gainsborough Care Home residents being taken out of the building, some in wheelchairs.
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The home, run by Agincare, has 48 residents, all elderly and some with dementia and physical disabilities.
All of the residents were taken temporarily to a nearby church hall. Firefighters were seen bringing beds to the evacuated residents, while a councillor said residents had “kindly”gone to the church with blankets in acts of “great community support”.
South Western Ambulance Service said they were called at 5.20am, and sent a hazard response team, 10 double-crewed ambulances and “a significant number of additional resources”.
Gas distribution company SGN said they were called to the care home earlier today as the national gas emergency service for the south of England.
“Our engineers are waiting for access to the building to complete safety checks,” a spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this tragic incident.”
A Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said they were called to assist ambulance crews at 7.47am, with two fire crews also called in from Winchester, which lies 60 miles from Swanage in the neighbouring county of Hampshire.
In a statement issued early on Wednesday afternoon, they said: “We currently have four fire crews on scene from Swanage, Wareham, Westbourne, Poole, a support vehicle from Dorchester, along with two crews from Winchester (Hampshire and IoW FRS).”
South Dorset MP Lloyd Hatton told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It will certainly be hitting the whole community hard. Swanage is a small tight-knit seaside town and I know people will be devastated by the news three people have sadly passed away.
“I think it’s really important that we allow the police and all the other emergency services to carry out their inquiries which are already under way, at which point they’ll be able to give us a fuller picture of just what’s gone on here.”
