Boy 7 Dies And 6 In Hospital After Devastating Explosion Destroys House In Newcastle

A seven-year-old boy has died and six others have been injured after a large fire in a residential street in Newcastle. Emergency services were called to the incident in Violet Close, in the Benwell and Elswick area of the city, shortly before 1am on Wednesday.

A spokesman for North East Ambulance Service said four people were treated at the scene and then taken to hospital.

Drone pictures from above the street showed at least one house appeared to have been completely destroyed, with roofs collapsed and firefighters working among the rubble.

Piles of debris could be seen on the street outside.

Authorities added six flats had been "badly affected, two of which suffered the main brunt of the explosion".

I'm surprised anybody came out of that alive to be honest given the level of destruction.

RIP little one and a speedy recovery to those in hospital and the walking wounded.

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Very bad do when children get killed, my prayers to the family. The story is a bit misleading. It wasn't a house but a block of flats, at least 4. That's 4 families not 1 family if it was a house.

a reply to: crayzeed

Just a horrible thing to happen.

Yeah looks like houses as opposed to flats.

Pretty clear in the pictures.

I suppose they could have been partitioned that way all the same.

But that would just mean more people/families.

I'm thinking possibly a gas boiler explosion or some other kind of serious leak took place given the level of damage.

Guess time will tell.

a reply to: andy06shake

I know Benwell a little bit, a couple of mates I used to have a bit of business with came from there.
Good people.

That must have been one big explosion to cause that much damage.

Early days yet but....if it turns out to be as a result of a gas explosion I have to ask; do you think there's been an increase in these accidents in recent years?

My most heartfelt condolences to the family of the poor kid and all the affected families etc.

a reply to: andy06shake

As a retired underground coal miner who handled explosives, I can tell you people have no idea of the potential of natural gas or propane. They take it for granted that everything is fine, but it takes a fairly small leak to lead to disaster.

a reply to: Freeborn

If it was a gas explosion.

Some owners simply dont service the gas boilers appropriately or use unqualified people to do so.

Especially if they are the likes of a private let and fly-by-night types.

Or even a Housing Association-owned property that has fallen upon hard times.

As an example when i moved in to my current home this year, 4 houses, semi-detached similar to those that just went boom, the gas boiler/cooker had not been serviced since April 2019.

Which is illegal, but it happens.

a reply to: andy06shake

I get my gas boiler serviced every year and have started making sure my parents and my daughter do the same.
Just seems to me as if there's been an increase in these gas explosions relatively recently.

There was a colliery in Benwell so as mentioned there is a possibility that it was a natural gas explosion?

a reply to: Freeborn

Me too mate which is why i raised it as a serious concern when we moved into the property.

The thing is when you are connected at the proverbial hip to another 3 houses in that sort of semi-detached affair.

You have to hope the occupants or owners of the other homes feel the same way and are diligent regarding their annual safety gas checks.

As to what happened here, just speculating i suppose until authorities do their job and release the cause.