Two men have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit arson after a huge gas explosion in Wirral left 34 people injured.
Residents near the Complete Works dance school in Port Sunlight, Merseyside, had complained they could smell gas before the building exploded at about 9.15pm on Saturday 25 March. The blast destroyed the dance school and caused several neighbouring buildings to collapse, catapulting bricks into a car park 150 metres away.
Two people were seriously injured and 32 others were taken to hospital. Children had been inside the dance school just an hour before the blast, witnesses said. Detectives declared the site of the blast a “scene of crime” the following evening. One person remains in hospital in a serious, but stable condition.
On Wednesday morning, a month after the incident, Merseyside police arrested a 62-year-old man from north Wales and a 55-year-old man from Wirral.
Police said both men were arrested on suspicion of “conspiring to commit arson with intent/being reckless as to whether life was endangered and an offence under the Fraud Act 2006”. The men will be questioned by detectives on Wednesday.
Police investigating the blast, which forced the evacuation of people from the surrounding area to a nearby church, had appealed for anyone with footage or photographs of the area immediately before or during the explosion to come forward.
The National Grid, which owns the gas pipes, issued a statement the day after the explosion saying that engineers had responded to reports of a smell of gas near the scene of the incident on the Friday night, but no leak could be detected. The gas supply to up to 30 properties was isolated as a safety precaution following the blast due to the damage to those properties.
Merseyside fire service said that most of those hurt were either in the Lan’s House Chinese restaurant opposite the dance school, or were walking by, when the blast happened.
Helen Hudson was in the restaurant when the windows were blown in. Speaking following the explosion, she said: “There was a man underneath a table who my husband helped to get out. Another woman had a bad injury to her cheekbone. It was so frightening. We thought it was a terrorist attack. There was blood everywhere and dust everywhere. Our ears are still ringing now.
“We didn’t know if there would be another explosion so we thought we had to get out and we climbed through the front of the restaurant. The men were all helping the women get out and there were women with prams trying to get babies out. I can’t believe we walked away alive.”
