Worksop gas blast kills one man as body found in wrecked home

A gas explosion on a quiet residential street has killed one person, police confirmed today, and forced emergency services to evacuate several others.

Emergency services evacuated a residential street in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, after they were called to the scene on Saturday evening, just before 8pm. have sadly confirmed the body of a man, in his 50s, had been found in the wreckage of the house on John Street. Emergency services treated the man at the scene but were unable to save him. Chief Inspector Clive Collings said: "This is an extremely serious incident that has led to a man's untimely death."

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The man's family have been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers. I have no doubt that this incident will have come as a shock to the community in Worksop."

The incident on Saturday evening left a home "partially destroyed" and residents in a panic, with people evacuated from their homes on John Street to a local community centre. Nottinghamshire Police said additional properties were damaged following the explosion, and emergency services discovered the body after spending the day combing through rubble.

People living both nearby and in neighbouring towns reported hearing the explosion in posts on social media, with one user saying they heard a "huge" bang, and another adding their windows shook in the shockwave.

Images circulated on social media appear to show a destroyed terraced house, with its entire length appearing wrecked and bricks covering part of the street in front in a video of the scene shared on .

One local, Penny Marriott, said she knew the man who lived in the house, adding the explosion blew a mirror in her living room "straight off" as she was eating her tea. She said: "I've never heard anything like it in my life. I’ve got a mirror on my living room wall and it blew that straight off. I was just eating my tea, it put me off my tea, I couldn’t finish it then."

“I know the lad who lived there. It’s terrible, I thought the top flat fell through into my bedroom. The whole house shook, the dog is in a right state, he’s not moved yet. It was horrendous.” One man told how he raced to the scene after hearing a "big boom" and a man claiming to live in the home said there was one person inside.

He said: “I went running there straight away and this man came up saying ‘that’s my house!’ I asked if there was anyone in there and he said; ’Yes, there’s one in there.’" , one local has claimed, with a resident saying she had smelt gas coming from the street and informed the relevant authorities.

They sent emergency teams to the area and they detected gas, she added, they informed her it would be "dealt with soon" three days before the explosion.

The woman said on Saturday night: "This was the street right outside my home. There are marks all over the pavement because I reported smelling gas. An emergency team came and detected gas and said it would be dealt with soon. That was three days ago."