Officers to search remains of blast property

South Yorkshire Police will lead investigation of the scene in Dundas Road, Tinsley, Sheffield, following the blast on Wednesday morning.

A spokesman said: “This will also involve scenes of crime officers as a criminal element has not yet been ruled out of the enquiry.”

He added: “Officers have already been exploring the possibility that work was being carried out on the gas supply.”

As experts began securing the area, a retired bricklayer spoke of the moment he plucked two girls from danger after the explosion.

Douglas Wydell, 62, raced to the scene following the blast at the terrace house opposite his friend’s home.

After checking the house, he headed to a neighbouring home where he found the two girls and carried them to safety.

Mr Wydell, of Brampton Bierlow in Rotherham, said: “I opened the door and went straight in.

“I met two young girls, about 10 to 12 years old, who were frozen in situ, in severe shock, not speaking or moving.

“They were in their pyjamas, bare-footed.

“The gas supply in the front room of the house that blew up was fractured.

“I said, ‘I have to get you out because next door is on fire.’

“The mother was stood at the cooker stirring a pan.

“She must have been in shock,” he added.

Mr Wydell said the woman followed them outside before he ran back into the property to turn off the hob as flames raged next door.

A 36-year-old tenant who lived at the house remained in hospital yesterday with facial burns and cuts.

South Yorkshire Police added that three other people who were hurt, a woman and two children from a neighbouring property, had suffered suspected smoke inhalation.