In Oldham today there was a burst gas pipe which damage one house.
People from the local area say that at least another two houses are damaged in the blast.
One person has been admitted to hospital and it has been announced that one boy has died at the moment there are still two people missing. There is a rescue centre in the local area because local residents as you can imagine cannot return to their houses to analyse the damage and till the rescue operation has been completed.
Oldham Gas Blast distruction. View from the ground
Currently there are forensic teams and sniffer dogs the rescue attempt is going to continue well into the night and the coming days.
National Grid said it had received a report of a smell of gas this morning. The police said that was “one element” currently being investigated.
Updated on 4 August 2012
Witnesses say the explosion was so loud and powerful that it shook other houses on the street.
Waqar Hussain, whose family rent out one of the destroyed properties, lives a few doors away. He said: “I had walked past just a few minutes earlier and gone into my house.
“The explosion was massive. I thought a bomb had gone off. The whole house shook. My mother was crying and when I went out onto the street I couldn’t take it in. It was like some weird dream. I just stood looking at the rubble and mess not knowing what to do when the police arrived and moved me away.”
Emergency services say they do not know when people will be allowed back into their homes.
Some 80 people have sought refuge at the makeshift help centre at a local school, and Oldham Council is offering temporary accomodation to those who need it.
Police have closed several roads and a cordon has been set up around the area.
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