Massive explosion destroyed family home in suspected gas blast

A house has exploded in York, according to reports.

Residents nearby the property on Springwood in Haxby reported hearing a loud bang this morning (Fri) and smoke filled the street before emergency services arrived on the scene.

Anna B ‏posted on Twitter: “Whilst out walkies, I think there might have been some sort of explosion in Haxby, York. Loudest bang ever. Ear hurts. Hope no one injured”.

User Veryan also tweeted: “House just exploded in Haxby, we felt our whole house shake! Scary! #explosion #Haxby #york“.

North Yorkshire Police tweeted from their account: “Emergency services are currently at the scene of an explosion at a property in Spingwood #Haxby extensive damage & area cordoned off.”

It is unclear if there were residents in the property at the time.

Bus driver Tom Holland, 28, who lives near to the explosion, said: “I live under a mile away from where it happened.

“Somewhere between 7.25am and 7.30am I felt a shockwave. It was like an earthquake.

“The whole room shook for a second. I’ve seen on social media that it has been felt in other parts of York too.

“I went down to the scene to have a look at. The stench down there is unbelievable and there is loads of smoke.

“The house that exploded is completely gone. It is just pile of rubbish.

“It has shattered windows from a number of houses each side of it and I saw at least one car that had its windows blown out.

“The cul-de-sac is closed and everyone who has been evacuated from their houses is standing outside.

“There was around four or five ambulances outside and people were being treated for shock. I also saw three or four fire engines and a number of police cars.”
The family who live there are believed to be on holiday when the explosion happened.

Rob Varley, 30, who lives on the next street to where the explosion happened said: “All that I knew was that there was a massive bang at around 7.30am.

“I had woken up just five minutes before it happened but I was still half asleep when it went off.

“It was like a mix of a bomb, a plane crash and a bus crashing into the house. Our house shook and it felt like a bus had driven into the house.

“I looked out the window and saw smoke coming from the houses.

“I ran outside to see if anyone was hurt and saw the house in pieces.

“There was so much devastation and it had started to set on fire again and so we backed away.

“Both sides next door have been hit very badly by it.

“There was an air of distress when it happened. You just don’t know what happened.

“You just hope that no one was inside.

“Talking to people in the street they said the people that lived there weren’t there during the week and there wasn’t a car there so hopefully they were still away when it happened.

North Yorkshire Police have confirmed that the body of a 63-year-old man has been found in the house which exploded.

They could not give any further details about the fatality but said the deceased had lived at the house.

They also confirmed the explosion was believed to have been caused by gas, but further investigations would reveal more.