Man Dies After Blast Flattens Houses

By Sky News SkyNews - Thursday, May 8 10:44 am

A man pulled out of the rubble of two cottages that collapsed in a suspected gas explosion in northwest London has died.

Two homes were flattened and another was torn in half by the force of the blast that ripped through Stanley Road in south Harrow last night.

Two people were injured and around 30 people spent the night in emergency accommodation.

The blast reduced number 19 and two flats at 21 to a pile of rubble, and number 23 was ripped out with only part of its adjoining wall left standing.

Paul Redmond, 42, who lives next to the remains of the house that was blown in half, said the blast shook him out of bed.

He said: "I was lying in bed and this almighty noise just erupted. I thought a plane had come down, it was so loud, I never want to hear anything like that again.

"My kids raced into the room in tears and we just got out of the home as quickly as we could. Thank God the stairs were still standing."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the cause of the explosion had "yet to be established" and officers had not ruled out the possibility of a murder inquiry.

A spokeswoman for National Grid said details of the incident were still "sketchy", adding: "It could be some time before we know exactly what has happened."

The scene of the blast is less than a mile from a block of flats where there was a gas explosion in February.

A man was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries and dozens of residents were evacuated following the earlier blast in a top-floor flat in Drinkwater Road, south Harrow.

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