Woman found dead after Birmingham house explosion
It happened in the Kingstanding area on Sunday night
Last updated 27th Jun 2022
A woman has been found dead after a suspected gas explosion at a house in Birmingham.
Emergency Services were called to Dulwich Road in the Kingstanding area around 8:30pm on Sunday.
The explosion completely destroyed the property, and damaged several others.
A man is in hospital with life-threatening injuries, after being pulled from the house by neighbours. Four others suffered minor injuries and were discharged at the scene.
West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) are carrying out investigations. Alex Shapland, an area commander, said a multi-agency inquiry was now under way "to understand exactly how this has taken place".
Mr Shapland added: "We have searched the properties we can get into. We have liaised and spoken to all of the occupants of all the different properties. We're not expecting to find anybody else in there, but until we have fully searched the area we can't say with absolute certainty."
No suspicious circumstances "at this stage"
Heroic residents have described how they clambered past flaming debris, through dust and rubble, shortly after the blast, and pulled an injured man alive from the ruins of the house.
One man, who declined to give his name, said: "Everyone was watching, the house was on fire, nobody was going in, so we could see a way in - so we went in the house, me and about a dozen others.
"There was a guy in the back (of the house), we could hear the guy screaming, but he was trapped up against the fridge in the kitchen. The dust from the loft insulation was burning around us. We managed to get to him and pull him out - I still have his blood on my jeans.
"We got him out, he ended up coming out on a mattress. But he was saying there was a woman in the house."
Asked about reports the house had been up for sale and that the boiler needed replacing, Mr Shapland said: "That may form part of the investigation.
"As I say, we've got colleagues and professionals who will be looking at all of the different circumstances."
Chief Inspector Kelly Monaghan, of West Midlands Police, said the force was supporting the fire brigade's investigation and there were no suspicious circumstances "at this stage".