Woman in gas blast still in hospital in serious condition

The woman, aged 72, was taken to Royal Preston Hospital after being rescued from a property on Charles Street where the explosion happened at around 5:55pm.

A second man, 29, was taken to hospital but his condition is not thought to be serious.

Four others were treated by paramedics at the scene for minor injuries.

WATCH: two rescued after major gas explosion

Police referred to the address as being a guest house, althought it is understood to be a private property where several people are living.

Ch Insp Ian Cooper from Lancashire Police said: “Firstly my thoughts are with the woman in hospital and her family at this extremely difficult time.

“We are happy that everyone is accounted for and we have moved from a safety and recovery operation into the investigation phase to understand what the cause was.

“We will be working with our colleagues from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, Blackpool Council and utility companies to establish that.

“The building will need to be assessed for structural damage and deemed safe before we are able to go inside to start that work.

“We appreciate that this incident will have caused shock and concern for local residents and I would like to reassure them that we will do all we can to understand the cause of what happened but this is likely to take some time, possibly weeks.

“I would like to thank each and every one of them for their co-operation during last night’s evacuation and as we continue.

“Finally, can I just reiterate that the immediate scene, which has now been fenced off, remains dangerous.

“I’d ask the public and residents in the area to keep away whilst the engineers work out how to make it safe for the investigation work to commence.”

If you have any information that you think could assist the investigation please call 101 quoting incident reference 1273 of September 23rd.