A man was fighting for his life yesterday after a gas explosion "like an earthquake" destroyed three flats.
A man was fighting for his life yesterday after a gas explosion "like an earthquake" destroyed three flats.
He was rescued from the scene in Wigan, Lancashire, by emergency workers on Saturday night along with seven other injured residents.
The man, who has not been named, is in a critical condition with serious burns in Whiston Hospital.
Another man is being treated at Wythenshawe Hospital for burns and is described as serious but stable.
The pair were injured when a flat exploded in Blake Close, Worsley Mesnes.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said the "top two flats in a block of three had concertinaed into the ground-floor property".
The scene was cordoned off for investigators to establish the building's safety and source of the explosion.
Such was the extent of the damage that an entire external wall was blown away. The fire raged for three hours and took 70 firefighters to extinguish.
The fire service said the search and rescue teams, from Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside, used dogs to check whether anyone else was trapped in the rubble.
Station commander Jon Aspinall said: "Obviously this was quite a substantial explosion."
Machine operator Ben Worthington, 18, lives across the road from the flats in Longfellow Close.
He said: "It was like an earthquake and a bang at the same time. It shook the ground.
"Everyone ran out in the street and there were people running out of the flats.
"It was on fire and then it collapsed. I saw two men pulling an old woman out of the bottom flat.
"There was more smoke than fire at that time but it looked very dramatic."
Residents unable to return to their neighbouring flats - which are all council-owned - were accommodated in nearby hotel.
The six people not detained at hospital suffered minor injuries and smoke inhalation.
Wigan and Leigh Housing chief executive Ashley Crumbley said: "We are working to assist the emergency services in their investigation into the cause of this explosion.
"The council will be investigating the full extent of the structural damage to the flats, but it appears that we have lost a number of units. Arrangements are being made for those displaced by this incident both in the short and long term."
Wigan's mayor, Rona Winkworth, said: "My heart goes out to the injured, those displaced, their relatives and friends.
"I intend to visit the site once the initial investigation is complete to meet the residents, thank the emergency services and see the devastation for myself."
