Leicester explosion: rescuers restart search as death toll rises to five

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/26/leicester-family-feared-missing-after-shop-explosion-kills-five

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Five people have been confirmed dead and another person is in a critical condition after the explosion that flattened a building in Leicester.

Another four people are in hospital and attempts to ensure no one else is trapped in the building have restarted after concerns about the structural integrity of a neighbouring wall forced emergency workers to stop on Monday afternoon.

Supt Shane O’Neill from Leicestershire police said: “We believe there may be people who have not yet been accounted for and rescue efforts continue in order to locate any further casualties.”

Pockets of fire still burned in the basement of the building, which housed a shop and two-storey flat above it.

The explosion on Hinckley Road was heard and felt by residents on streets around the site and many rushed to help those trapped inside.

Matt Cane, the group manager for Leicestershire fire and rescue service, whose staff worked throughout the night alongside police and ambulance staff, said the tragedy had caused “deep shock and real upset”.

Speaking at a community meeting on Monday evening, Cane said: “The scene is still best described as dynamic. We are still in a search and rescue phase. Sadly, during the night and during the day today we found a number of bodies. They were treated with the utmost respect as they were removed from the site.”

Krishna Rungen was one of those seeking answers at the site of the explosion as he attempted to find out what had happened to his extended family.

The 69-year-old said his sister lived there with her husband and three sons in a flat in the destroyed building. His brother-in-law, who was at work at the time of the explosion, was at the hospital with his youngest son, aged 15, who had been pulled out of the wreckage and was not seriously injured, he said.

Rungen wept as he said that he had unable to get news about the rest of the family. “He doesn’t know what’s happened to his other children,” he said, adding that his brother-in-law’s two older sons, his wife and the girlfriend of one of his sons were missing.

Rungen said he was devastated by the thought that members of his extended family could be among the five already confirmed dead but still did not know whether that was the case.

The flat was above a Polish shop, according to residents, although they said the business had changed hands several times in recent years.

Among the residents who rushed to help the victims was Tony Hartley, who lives around 50 yards away. He said: “I was standing in the kitchen and heard a bang so I ran up the road and could see glass everywhere … Me and a friend lifted up a steel girder with about five other blokes and removed a bloke from underneath it.

“We then turned round, saw rubble and heard a little boy crying. There was me and another bloke sifting through the rubble and we managed to pull the boy out. I said to him: ‘Is there anybody else in there?’ and he said: ‘My friend’s a metre back inside the building,’ and that’s when the emergency services turned up.”

Hartley, 33, said the boy, thought to be aged between 10 and 13, was able to walk after being freed.

Hinckley Road remained closed on Monday and there was a steady stream of emergency and construction vehicles going to and from the site. Specialist search and rescue teams were being supported by two search dogs.

A rest centre has been set up at St Anne’s Church and a public meeting was held on Monday night to provide residents with more information. The cause of the explosion is not expected to be ascertained for some days but authorities said that there is no evidence that the incident is related to terrorism.

The local Labour MP, Liz Kendall, paid tribute to emergency services at the community meeting and to the togetherness of local people in the face of tragedy.

Richard Rice, 73, said: “It was a massive bang; it made me jump. I thought it was TJ’s [the takeaway next door to where the explosion took place] because they have the open flame. I went into my back yard. I could see two people lying in the road, obviously being treated. I think it was members of the public treating them. It looked as though the whole building was in the road. Flames were just licking at it.”

Sunan Logue, 31, said she used to work in the shop when it was a Londis branch and at that time it did not have a boiler so she doubted whether there could have been a gas explosion there.

Logue, who lives round the corner, said: “We heard a big bang like something had dropped on the roof. I thought it was an earthquake. I opened the door and all I could see was the flames. We went outside and saw the big fire. The police told us we had to get out of the house.”

She, her husband and two children were evacuated overnight along with many other families. Power supplies in the immediate area were affected but were restored to all but a handful of properties by Monday afternoon.