GAS TRAGEDY
Kingstanding explosion: Rescued man cried ‘Please save my missus!’ before woman found dead in house ‘with faulty boiler’
A RESCUED man cried "please save my missus" moments before a woman died in a horror house explosion.
Locals described the ground shaking last night as the explosion - which "sounded like an earthquake" - tore through.
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One woman tragically died and a man remains in a ";life-threatening" condition after the blast left the house in ruins Sunday night.
And now it has emerged that the three-bedroom terraced property in Kingstanding, Birmingham, was due a new boiler shortly before the explosion.
Hero neighbour Callum Attwood described pulling a severely injured man - who has not been named - out from underneath the collapsed second floor.
And witness Kashif Mahmood said he heard the man's horrified cries of: "Please save my missus, she's still inside."
The dad-of-two said: "I was with my wife and kids and we had just come back from the cinema.
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"We had got some food from a takeaway and were driving home along Dulwich Road.
"Just as soon as we drove past the house it exploded."
Kashif said he saw one victim being pulled from the property by a hero neighbour.
He added: "He was injured but was screaming 'Please save my missus! My missus is still inside!'
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"The guys couldn't go inside because the fire was so bad.
"They waited for the firefighters to arrive and they got in and took the woman outside but she was not in a good condition.
"I found out this morning on the news [that she died] and that is really really sad and I feel so sorry for her family."
Brave Callum Attwood told how he charged in to save the man.
He told the Sun: "I’m just glad we got the one man out. He said his partner was still inside.
"We tried to get to her but the flames and heat was too much and the fire service had started to do their job."
Callum - who miraculously suffered no injuries in the blaze - added: "I live a couple of roads away from where it happened.
"I heard it from my house and could see the smoke.
"The flames were very high and people were saying there were people in the back garden and people in the house.
"So I ran into the back garden of next door's house and jumped over to see another group of lads all moving bricks and trying to lift the second floor of the house up.
"The man was trapped underneath."
Another hero, who declined to give his name, told the PA news agency: "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, we could hear the guy screaming, but he was trapped up against the fridge in the kitchen.
"His clothes had been blown off, you couldn't even see him, he was covered in blood.
"We managed to get to him, and pull him out - I still have his blood on my jeans.
FIRE HORROR
"He was going 'don't pull me - my legs' and I said 'mate, we're going to have to take you out now'.
"The dust from the loft insulation was burning around us.
"We got him out, he ended up coming out on a mattress.
"But he was saying there was a woman in the house."
The property was recently sold by Birmingham-based Paul Carr Estate Agents - and aerial pictures show a red ‘sold’ sign in the rubble.
On the firm’s website, the property's particulars states: "Boiler requires repair / replacement."
The description goes on: “A three bedroom terraced in need of some upgrading and offering a competitively priced starting point on the property ladder.
“The lounge floor in the bay requires attention and the property is priced to reflect the amount of potential on offer rear.
“Outside the rear garden has a slabbed patio area leading to the good size lawn, there is a shared side passage and viewing is advised of this majority centrally heated (boiler requires repair / replacement) and double-glazed property.”
Six fire engines, several ambulances and other specialist rescue workers were scrambled shortly before 9pm in Kingstanding, Birmingham.
The fire service said: "The incident, believed to be a gas explosion, has completely destroyed one property and significantly damaged three adjoining properties."
West Midlands Ambulance service said a man was helped from the property by hero neighbours at the scene but had suffered "very serious injuries".
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He is being treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
Another four men were discharged after treatment at the scene.
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