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Suspected gas explosion in Nottinghamshire house injures five Suspected gas explosion in Nottinghamshire house injures five
(about 4 hours later)
At least five people were injured in what is believed to have been a gas explosion at a house in Nottinghamshire. Firefighters are working to rescue as many as two people who were believed to be trapped in the rubble from a suspected gas explosion in a Nottinghamshire town that seriously injured four others, including two children.
The house was severely damaged in the blast at around 5.10pm on Wright street, Newark, according to Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service. The blast, which devastated a house on a street in the town of Newark and damaged nearby properties shortly after 5pm, was described by witnesses as like a bomb going off.
The five injured people are thought to have been injured in the explosion. Initial reports said that some had to be rescued by emergency services. With rubble littering the street, one man was dragged out of the debris by neighbours while the local fire service said that specialist rescue teams believed they had located one person in the remains and were continuing to look for another.
A witness, Luke Carter, told Sky News: "We saw at least two houses that were completely flattened and a few cars on the street that had been damaged by the debris." Fire appliances, air ambulances and specialist teams from nearby Lincolnshire were sent to the scene on Wright Street following initial reports of a suspected gas explosion at around 5.10pm.
Local people living in the area were being asked by police asked to remain indoors and ensure windows are closed to reduce the effects of dust and any gas fumes. An extensive rescue operation was underway tonight in the town, north east of Nottingham, where more than 100 people were evacuated from nearby homes as a precaution.
The emergency response included air ambulances and fire tenders from nearby Lincolnshire. Members of the emergency services were seen wearing face-masks at the scene. Audie Cashin, a local man who was one of the first on the scene, told reporters how he and others located one man in the rubble and helped to drag him out before going in search of another.
"He said his dad was in the cellar. I am trying to find his dad. I am kicking the door down. I couldn't find him. Then all I heard was 'get out, get out, the house is on fire' and there was firemen all around," he said.
Cormac Fleming, who lives on the street, told the BBC the house had exploded in front of him and his family as they were walking past, knocking his son off his bicycle.
"I then noticed a curtain moving in the house next door. I, and another man, smashed the window and next thing I was being handed a newborn baby," he said.
"One house was completely destroyed and the house next to it was half-blown up."
Fleming said that a five-year-old and his mother, who had cuts, then came out of the property neighbouring the house that had been destroyed in the blast.
Local people living in the area were being asked by police to remain indoors and ensure windows were closed to reduce the effects of dust and any gas fumes.
The property that was destroyed was said by neighbours to have been occupied by a couple and a small child.
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