Andover explosion: Man dies after blast destroys Hampshire home

House completely 'gone' following suspected gas blast, says witness

A man has died after a suspected gas explosion destroyed a house in Hampshire.

His body was pulled from the wreckage following a blast in Andover in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Gas engineers, fire crews and police are investigating the cause of the explosion, which shook surrounding houses and badly damaged an adjacent property.

Neighbour Andy Phillips, 44, said: “We live about 100 yards away; the sound was like a huge clap of thunder that shook and rattled ours and many other houses, damaging some of them.

“The debris covers about a 25-metre radius.”

He said the property destroyed, on Launcelot Close, was a shared house for people “getting back on their feet after hard times”.

Another neighbour said the house had “collapsed, gone” following the blast.

Aerial images showed a three-storey property completed flattened at the end of a row of terraced housing.


 An aerial view of a house in Launcelot Close, Andover, where a man's body was found following a suspected gas explosion 
 (PA)

Housing association Aster Group said: “We’re aware that there has been an explosion at a property in Andover which we understand has resulted tragically in a fatality.

“We’re working closely with the emergency services as they carry out their investigations.

“Our senior team is attending the incident and our neighbourhood teams on the ground are already onsite offering help and support to the residents involved.”

Local news website Andover and Villages reported that the explosion set off car alarms in an area more than a mile away.

Dan Brown, a spokesman for gas distribution company SGN, said: “While it is too early to speculate as to what has happened, we’re working closely with the emergency services to help identify the cause.

“We’ll remain on site to support the emergency services to help discover the cause of the explosion.”