Police are hunting for a man after an explosion at a block of flats in Lancashire.
Emergency services rushed to the scene of the incident on Tanfields in Skelmersdale at around 6.07pm on Tuesday (May 17). Responders found two flats completely blown apart with 'significant' damage.
Five people who were inside managed to get out the building safely before emergency services arrived and 15 people were evacuated from the area. None of them were seriously injured.
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A man later attended Ormskirk Hospital with burn injuries, police said. They are not life-threatening.
An investigation was launched into the cause of the explosion, which Lancashire Police said is being treated as 'unexplained'. Officers are keeping an 'open mind' about what happened.
In an update, the force confirmed that a 29-year-old man from Darlington has been arrested in connection with the incident. He is being questioned on suspicion of production of a class B drug and causing an explosive substance likely to endanger life or cause serious injury.
Detectives now want to speak to 40-year-old Robert Nolan, from Skelmersdale, as part of the investigation. They have released a picture of him and asked for anyone with information to come forward.
He is described as white, around 5ft 8ins tall, of slim build and speaking with a Liverpool accent. Police also want to speak to anyone who saw anything suspicious that day, or who captured any footage of any suspicious vehicles on CCTV, dash cam or on doorbell cameras.
DC Sean Reddington, of South CID, said: "This incident has caused significant damage to the properties and left a number of people displaced. Our investigation is very much ongoing to establish the cause of the explosion and we would ask people to check any footage they may have covering the area to see if they have captured anything which could assist us in our enquiries.
"Although we are keeping an open mind as to what caused the explosion we have made an arrest. We now need to speak to Robert Nolan as we believe he can assist us with our enquiries. We would ask anybody who sees him or knows where he is to contact police as soon as possible.”
Anyone with information is asked to email police or call 101, quoting log 1311 of May 17, 2022.
