A London bus had a lucky miss when a gas explosion destroyed a house just as it approached this afternoon.
The blast blew off the roof and sent glass and bricks flying across Ley Street in Ilford, east London, as a bus and cars were driving down.
In footage posted on the Instagram page ‘ig1ig3’, one pedestrian was seen running to avoid the spray of debris from shattered windows.
Firefighters rescued two people from a first floor window before they were taken to hospital. Five others escaped neighbouring properties.
The entire ground floor, first floor and loft conversion of the building were destroyed in the fire. Damage to neighbouring buildings is still being assessed.
Firefighters were seen spraying water onto its roof even two hours after the alarm was first raised at 4.09pm.
By then, flames could still be seen rising as smoke billowed out.
In total, eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters responded to the fire, which was under control by 6.23pm.
Pictures from the scene showed the bus stranded on the street while firefighters tackled the blaze.
The cause of the fire is not yet know.
The loft conversion is part of a terraced house that’s been converted into flats.
Station commander Darren McTernan, who is at the scene, said: ‘Firefighters worked hard to bring this fire under control. Crews will remain on scene throughout the evening.
‘Ley Street remains closed between Eastern Avenue and Vicarage Road, impacting traffic in the surrounding area, so please continue to avoid the area if you can.
‘One of the Brigade’s 32-metre turntable ladders was used at the scene as a water tower to help fight the fire from above.
‘The Brigade’s drone team were also deployed to the incident, offering the Incident Commander an aerial view of the scene.’
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