Man injured in explosion at Bankstown apartment block

A man has been rushed to hospital with “significant burns” after a gas explosion, which occurred while he was cooking a barbecue on the balcony of a second-storey unit in Sydney’s west.

Emergency services at the scene of the explosion on Thursday. Picture: TNV

A man has been rushed to hospital with “significant burns” after a gas explosion on the balcony of a second-storey unit in Sydney’s west.

Paramedics rushed to Meredith St in Bankstown on Thursday following reports a man had fallen from a window about 3.05pm.

Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said the man had in fact been cooking a barbecue on the balcony.

“Gas has escaped and it ignited somehow,” he said.

“We don’t know whether he has fallen or jumped off the second-level balcony, but it was a decent fire.

Paramedics treat the injured man. Picture: TNV

“(The man) has significant burns to a number of parts of his body.”

Firefighters treated the injured man at the scene before paramedics arrived to take over about 10 minutes after the incident.

A man has been injured in a gas explosion in Sydney. Picture: TNV

They treated the man, aged in his 30s, for burns to his limbs before he was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital.

In footage from the scene, paramedics could be seen frantically tending to the injured man’s burns, wrapping his limbs in plastic before wheeling him down the street and loading him into an ambulance.

Police were spotted inspecting apartment balconies, just metres above pieces of rubbish strewn on the ground surrounding a dark patch of scorched grass, while a busted gas bottle sat unattended nearby.

A woman visiting her sister at the apartment block told this masthead she heard a loud bang before emergency services arrived.

A gas bottle, covered with a red sweater, sits metres from a hazardous waste bin on a lawn at the apartment block. Picture: Canterbury-Bankstown Express

“(The injured man) hurt his shoulder and his leg,” she said.

“(I was told) it was a gas explosion.”

A gas bottle, covered with a red sweater, was sitting on a lawn at the complex following the incident, metres from a bright yellow hazardous waste bin and a pair of thongs.