A Merseyside college was the scene of a fiery explosion which injured several staff nearly sixty years ago.
The site which is now Carmel College, in St Helens, saw what was described by witnesses as a "frightening, tremendous explosion".
The ECHO reported on the tragedy at the time.
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Local historian Stephen Wainwright detailed how the papers discussed the explosion, on June 22 1962, which led to one worker dying from his injuries the following day.
The St Helens Reporter published this account, under the headline "Boiler Explodes – Sets Fire To Three Workmen – Frightening, Says Resident: Rescuers Were Burned Risking Their Lives":
"Three blazing men were helped screaming from the roof of the partly-constructed Our Lady of Mount Carmel R.C. secondary modern girls' school, Eccleston Hill, yesterday lunch-time.
"The men, roofing felters, employed by Vulcanite Ltd., Wigan, were enveloped in flames when a gas cylinder over which they were working, overheated and exploded in their faces.
"The noise was heard for miles around. Workmates, hearing the explosion – dashed to help the men, who were rushed to Whiston Hospital."
The site of the former Our Lady of Mount Carmel R.C school would later become one of the top rated sixth form colleges in the country, opening as Carmel College in 1987.
The men injured were named as: Joseph Smith (aged 24), 11 Hind Road, Marsh Green, Wigan, Allan Lowe (28), 316 Bryn Road, Bryn, and Derek Hines (34), 637 Ormskirk Road, Pemberton.
The explosion had reportedly broken out at 11.30am, due to a gas bottle that the workers were using having overheated.
A labourer who witnessed the incident said: “It was horrible. One of the men had a lot of skin burnt off him and had hardly any clothes left.”
