Middlesbrough explosion: Man pulled from rubble of house destroyed in blast and flown to hospital
A man has been flown to hospital after locals reportedly pulled him from the rubble of a house that was destroyed in a suspected gas explosion.
The police said a 57-year-old man was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle with serious burn injuries after the blast in Kirkland Walk, Middlesbrough, at about 12.40pm on Tuesday.
A neighbour said “three lads” pulled the “screaming” man from the rubble, while a roofer told local media he carried the injured man out on his back.
People in Kirkland Walk and in neighbouring streets have been told they cannot go back to their homes following the explosion which destroyed much of the house and badly damaged others.
Twelve houses were affected by the blast, police said, adding that while there is no wider threat to public safety, people have should avoid the area.
Kayfee Hameed, a 45-year-old roofer who was driving past the scene, told TeessideLive he helped carry the man away from the scene.
He said: “Everybody was on the grass over there watching. When I drove past I saw the fire at the house. I jumped out and everyone was shouting ‘don’t go, don’t go’.
“I ran inside and I said ‘is anybody there?’ The man was laid down there were all rocks on his leg. He was just shocked. I told him to come closer because the fire was coming down. I put him on my back and got him out.”
Pic: PA
Meanwhile, Michael Clark, who lives with his wife in Kirkland Walk, said: “Three lads went in and pulled him out of the rubble.
“They didn’t hesitate, they went straight in, they were worried there was going to be another explosion.
“The man was screaming in the rubble.
“The man looked terrible when they brought him out.”
The 69-year-old added: “All his clothes were stuck to him and they looked like rags.
“His hair was all burned, everything, from top to bottom.”
Mr Clark said the neighbouring house to the explosion has lost a bedroom and other homes’ roofs were badly damaged.
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Pic: PA
Michelle Garner, 51, who lives in a nearby street with her French bulldog Titan, has also been told she cannot go home yet.
She said: “The whole house was shaking.
“I jumped up and opened the front door and saw all the smoke and everyone was moving around and there was no house left.”
Ms Garner and Mr Clark estimated that about 50 homes could have been evacuated, possibly affecting more than 100 people.
They have been told they can gather at a local primary school.
An air ambulance took the man to hospital after landing on a nearby green.
Pic: PA
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The Great North Air Ambulance Service said: “Our team activated at 12.46pm to an incident in Middlesbrough.
“We had two doctors and two paramedics respond to the scene and they worked alongside the North East Ambulance Service to assess and treat a patient.
“The patient is being airlifted to hospital.”
Cleveland Police, Cleveland Fire Brigade, North East Ambulance Service and Northern Powergrid have been working together at the scene to make it safe.
A large cordon was in place at the scene where there were at least three ambulances, four fire engines and five gas engineers’ vans.
Local residents, including children who had finished school for the day, gathered at the cordon to watch the emergency services response.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
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Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
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