An 84-year-old man has passed away after an explosion occurred at a house in the Baberton area of Edinburgh. The incident, which took place on Friday night, also saw two others taken to the hospital for treatment: a 43-year-old and a 54-year-old. According to Police Scotland, the alarm was raised on Baberton Mains Avenue at around 10:25 pm that night.
Described by an eyewitness as having the smell of gas, the incident is considered accidental with no suspicious circumstances attached at all. Moreover, the explosion caused absolutely catastrophic damage to the house that was completely destroyed with rubble all over the area and several cars being damaged. Arthur McAnna, a neighbor, was woken up by the blast, which “was like a bomb going off”. He remarked that the explosion was “scary” and caused structural damage to several homes in the area.
Alison Broadhurst, another neighbor, said that she could smell gas and heard the explosion and sirens from emergency services as they arrived. She described that it was “terrifying” and that the event caused a lot of destruction, with one-half of a house falling away while debris from houses on the other side of the street fell onto parked cars.
It took five fire appliances and specialist services to deal with the aftermath. Gas distributor SGNA confirmed that it was brought in to assist 999 crews with safety procedures and emergency work. SGNA offered its deepest sympathies to the family of the man who sadly passed away due to this catastrophic event. SGNA also said that it is working closely with the authorities to determine the cause of this regretful incident. Scottish Tory MSP Sue Webber paid tribute to the emergency service personnel who worked hard to help all those affected by the tragedy
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