Moment family screams after house explodes but make ‘miracle survival’ in London

The neighbour to an East London house which was destroyed in an explosion last night says it was a ‘miracle’ no one in his property was hurt.

Alarm was raised in Ilford, East London, last night when a gas explosion destroyed a house causing its roof to blow off, sending glass and bricks flying across the street.

Two people were rescued from the house’s first floor, and a further five managed to escape.

Neighbours to the house have now told Metro of their relief and surprise that no one in their properties were hurt.

Hamid Sheikh, 34, owns the house next door but rents it out, he said: ‘I got to the scene as quickly as I could. When I heard it was an explosion I couldn’t believe it. My first worry was for my tenants.

‘The blast was big and they were just a few feet away. It’s a miracle no one was hurt. As far as I know there was a renovation going on at the house where it happened. I’m trying to assess what damage there is to my house but the most important thing is that everyone is ok.

‘I hope there is a full investigation into how this happened.’

Zubair Aslam, 27, who lives two doors down told Metro: ‘I’m very thankful that we are ok. It was really scary. We had to evacuate but are back now. We are in shock. There were people living in he house as far as I know, thank goodness no one died.’

Another neighbour added: ‘A lady who lives next to the house had reported that she had smelled gas I’m told.

‘But she was on holiday when the blast actually happened, not nice to come back to. The place that exploded was having building work I’m told.’

Investigators were continuing to trawl through the house’s wreckage on Wednesday morning.

A London bus also was nearly taken out by the explosion.

In footage posted on the Instagram page ‘ig1ig3’, one pedestrian was seen running to avoid the spray of debris from shattered windows.

Firefighters rescued two people from a first floor window before they were taken to hospital. Five others escaped neighbouring properties.

The entire ground floor, first floor and loft conversion of the building were destroyed in the fire. Damage to neighbouring buildings is still being assessed.

Firefighters were seen spraying water onto its roof even two hours after the alarm was first raised at 4.09pm.

By then, flames could still be seen rising as smoke billowed out.

In total, eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters responded to the fire, which was under control by 6.23pm.

Pictures from the scene showed the bus stranded on the street while firefighters tackled the blaze.

The cause of the fire is not yet know.

The loft conversion is part of a terraced house that’s been converted into flats.

Station commander Darren McTernan, who is at the scene, said: ‘Firefighters worked hard to bring this fire under control. Crews will remain on scene throughout the evening.

‘Ley Street remains closed between Eastern Avenue and Vicarage Road, impacting traffic in the surrounding area, so please continue to avoid the area if you can.

‘One of the Brigade’s 32-metre turntable ladders was used at the scene as a water tower to help fight the fire from above.

‘The Brigade’s drone team were also deployed to the incident, offering the Incident Commander an aerial view of the scene.’

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