Man in serious condition after 'gas explosion' destroys house near Smethwick

The man, in his 30s, made his own way to hospital after the explosion in Wiggin Street, Ladywood, shortly before 12.20pm.

Images showed the front of the house had been ripped off, while much of the remaining building was reduced to rubble.

Twenty firefighters were at the ruined house where at least two people were believed to be inside during the explosion. They are expected to continue their investigations into tomorrow.

One of these people is the injured man, who made his own way to City Hospital before being taken by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital because of the severity of injuries.

A woman also believed to have been in the building was discharged by ambulance staff at the scene.

The two neighbouring houses have been evacuated as a result of the blast, leaving a couple and a woman homeless.

West Midlands Fire Service sent four crews and an aerial platform to the scene while West Midlands Ambulance Service sent an ambulance, two rapid response vehicles and the hazardous area response team.

The Midlands Air Ambulance flew to the site from Cosford before the crew travelled to City Hospital to check on the man.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman Suzie Wheaton said: "The aircrew and critical care paramedic attended the hospital, where the man was being treated for serious burn injuries.

"Due to his condition the man was conveyed, via land ambulance, to the major trauma centre at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. The trauma doctor travelled on board the ambulance continuing to provide emergency care whilst en route.

"The Hazardous Area Response Team remain on scene at the incident."

Dave Janes, the incident commander for West Midlands Fire Service, said his crews were working to establish the exact sequence of events.

He said:"There was a significant fire in a rear single storey part of the building, but we've yet to establish the precise order of events. We had to very mindful of how much water we used because of the building's instability.

"Gas and electricity have been isolated and, from around 3pm, our resources at the scene will be scaled down to one fire engine and five firefighters.

"However, we expect to be at the scene for several more hours, and will be taking a desicision in due course as to whether operations will be able to continue after dark."

Utility companies and a city council structural engineer have been called to the address.