Town centre building explosion

Police guard the approach to a collapsed building over the Welsh Bridge in Shrewsbury
12 April 2012

A number of people have been injured after an explosion in a town centre, police said.

A building collapsed in Shrewsbury in what is believed to be a gas explosion, a spokesman for West Mercia Police said.

Police, ambulance and fire services all attended the scene, which was cordoned off after the late-morning incident.

The spokesman said: "We have a number of casualties and it's been declared to be a major incident. The scene is quite bad."

The explosion happened at a block of flats on the corner of Bridge Street and Smithfield Road, near Welsh Bridge, police said.

Speaking at the scene, a West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said a woman in her early 20s was blown out of the building from the first floor and suffered serious burns. Emergency services found her lying in the street outside.

"It was quite a considerable explosion," he said.

A man, who was believed to have been on the ground floor and had become trapped by rubble, was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with suspected spinal injuries, the spokesman said.

Five other people, who were in a car outside the building when the explosion happened, were trapped by rubble and pulled free by bystanders, he said.

A "number of people" described as walking wounded were also taken to hospital suffering from minor cuts and ringing sounds in their ears.

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