Man killed in gas explosion
Police can confirm a body has been recovered from the scene of a gas explosion in Newark.
Fire crews found the man's body during an ongoing search of the rubble after the house on Wright Street collapsed, Nottinghamshire Police said in a statement.
The man has not yet been named.
Searches have currently been suspended while the property is made safe, however they will continue later to find another person, who is believed to still be in the house.
The explosion happened just before 5.15pm this evening (Sunday May 19), at 28 Wright Street, Newark.
Two children and a woman were taken to Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre for treatment to smoke inhalation and have since been discharged.
A man also sustained serious injuries and smoke inhalation and remains in hospital.
A number of other people, described as walking wounded, have been treated for smoke inhalation.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service's Urban Search and Rescue Unit is now on scene using specialist dogs in an effort to locate the missing person in what is described as a painstaking brick by brick sift of the rubble.
Nottinghamshire fire brigade stresses the operation is still very much a rescue operation rather than one of recovery.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service's area manager, Craig Parkin had earlier confirmed two people, both adults, had yet to be rescued.
Mr Parkin described the scene as "literally a pile of rubble" and said it was difficult to know where the missing person might be located.
A witness told the Advertiser a man may have been trapped in the a basement.
Of those rescued, one is a man and another a woman, the others are a child and an infant - believed to be a newborn baby.
Local people are asked to remain indoors and ensure windows are closed to reduce the effects of dust and any gas fumes.
The Grove Leisure Centre at Balderton is in use as an emergency evacuation centre, but less than ten people are using it.
Around 100 people have been evacuated from their homes as a precaution.
Matt Ridyard, who lives nearby, said: "At 5.15 my house just shook.
"I thought there had been a train crash.
"Me and another guy ran over there and number 28 was just a pile of rubble.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was carnage, devastation.
"There was a guy there and I asked him whose house it was and he said 'mine' and there were people still inside.
"He'd been pulled out from under a beam. He was covered in dust and had blood coming from his eyes.
"We climbed the rubble but there was a risk of the rubble collapsing into the cellar and then the whole thing caught fire.
"We had to withdraw, then the first of the emergency services arrived.
"They were saying there was one in the loft and one in the cellar. If there was anyone in the loft - well they're gone.
"I'm being told there are still people unaccounted for."
He said the man whose house it was was later told he had been running around with a compact fracture to his leg.
As Matt was speaking the electricity supply to his house went out.
Number 30 Wright Street is said to have been destroyed too and number 26 is also reported to have a large hole in it.
Two air ambulances were called upon and the police helicopter used a loud hailer to warn people to stay indoors.
At least five fire engines and a number of ambulances attended.
Cormac Fleming, who was first on the scene, posted his account on the Advertiser online.
Read his account of how he smashed a window and was handed a newborn baby below.