Hero neighbours rush to scene of Leicester explosion and try to drag out rubble 'fearing people are trapped' inside blast

Hero neighbours rushed to the scene of a Leicester explosion and tried to pull out the rubble 'fearing people were trapped' underneath.



Jonny Halliwell heard a 'huge bang' which shook the walls of his house and he rushed out to see people running down the street towards Weston Park Convenience store in Leicester - a shop which had only been open for approximately six weeks.



"Flames had engulfed the entire building. People grabbed blankets and ran towards the fire to try to help people. Rubble and shop fittings were blasted all over the road.



"I saw people pulling up chunks of rubble and searching for people underneath."



Six people were rushed to hospital in what East Midlands Ambulance Service described as a 'tragic' incident.



Jonny told Mirror Online that he did not see any injuries before police told people to leave the scene but the entire building had been flattened.



"It was like someone took a delete tool on a computer and just erased the whole building.



"The shop was open until 10pm so there would have been people in there at the time," he said.