Father's horror as blast traps children

Leon Barker was getting ready for work yesterday when a suspected gas blast in his next-door neighbour's kitchen ripped through the home he shares with his wife Sarah and children Joshua, 11, Taylor, eight and Ellis, three.

Mr Barker said: "I got up to go to work at half six and just after seven I heard 'bang' and the house came down.

"Next thing I knew I was climbing out of the rubble and surfaced at next door's back garden.

"I looked up and saw the middle lad half hanging out of the house and half trapped.

"I climbed up, got him out and then started shouting.

"My eldest child was screaming and then I was holding the roof up while the firemen were trying to get him out – which they did."

The gas explosion flattened four terrace homes in Merlin Road, Irlam, in Salford.

Investigators believe the blast happened in the kitchen of Mr Barker's neighbour – an 82-year-old woman who is being treated in hospital for 30 per cent burns.

Mr Barker said two of his children were being kept in hospital with breaks and cuts and bruises.

"I wouldn't wish this on anyone – having to dig out my children," he added.

"I don't think any of us realise how lucky we have been."

Last night a spokesman for City West Housing Trust, which owns the homes, confirmed the gas supply would have been disconnected and reconnected on Monday as renovation work was carried out at the property.

He said: "As part of the work, the cooker was disconnected at the start of the day and reconnected at the end of the day.

"A full investigation is being carried out and we don't have any information as yet."

Greater Manchester Police said nine adults and five children were being treated at Salford Royal Infirmary for non-life-threatening injuries.

The explosion peppered passers-by with debris and flying glass and one man's ceiling collapsed on him.

More than 40 firefighters and search and rescue team sniffer dogs scoured the scene for anyone who was still trapped but found no-one.

One of the first fire officers at the scene said debris had been flung as far as 328ft down the road by the force of the blast, and included a bath found in the middle of someone's garden.

The officer added: "I am amazed, it is miraculous that there weren't more people seriously injured."

There was chaos at the blast site but the impact was also felt further afield with a large cordon thrown around the surrounding streets and 200 homes evacuated. Those residents were last night being put up in hotels.

Barbara Spicer, Salford City Council's chief executive, said: "I have spent most of today in Irlam with local councillors and we have seen the amazing community spirit that has been shown in these awful circumstances.

"Residents were welcomed into the Tiger Moth pub and the local school, where the staff have ensured they have been kept safe, warm and fed.

Unfortunately we will not be able to get the residents from within the cordon back into their homes this evening because we cannot be sure that the houses are structurally sound.

"Council employees have volunteered their own time to staff rescue centres to help those affected and we will ensure anyone not able to return home this evening is provided with accommodation until they can get back to their own homes."

A fire service spokesman said officers would return to the site today to continue the investigation into the blast.

Witnesses tell of flattened houses

Resident William Billinge, 65, of nearby Silver Street, had told how he was woken by a "very loud bang". He said of the houses: "There's nothing left of them. There is debris everywhere, all over the place. Four houses completely flattened."

Tesco night shift worker Barbara Holgate had just got home when she heard the blast and smelled gas. "They were knocking on doors, telling people to get out," she said.

Retired office worker Carolyn Patten, 64, said: "There was a huge booming noise at around 7am this morning.

"Then pretty quickly we heard all the sirens and realised that something was going on down the other end of the road."