‘Streets shook’: Unit block destroyed in ‘massive explosion’ at Whalan
A trainee nurse is feared trapped underneath the rubble of a townhouse which exploded on Saturday after a suspected gas leak. Emergency services are holding out hope that if she is trapped she is still alive.
NSW
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A frantic search continues for a trainee nurse who is missing among the rubble of her mother’s home which exploded at Whalan.
The woman, aged in her early 30s, was visiting her mum when a gas leak is believed to have caused a bomb-like explosion.
Neighbours said the missing woman’s mother was away from the premises at the time but returned a short time later, screaming out for her daughter who she knew was inside and couldn’t be contacted.
“She (the mother) was on her hands and knees screaming for her daughter,” a neighbour said.
“She wouldn’t leave, she sat here in the rain and cold all night saying she wasn’t going until her daughter was out”.
A search and rescue dog is sniffing through the debris as emergency services anxiously watch on.
Residents watching the mission were told to clear the area, as the dog was picking up their scent.
After 18 hours of a search and rescue operation the recovery mission was in “full swing” until authorities are able to definitively confirm whether or not the woman reported missing from the residence is trapped in the debris.
Neighbours have been left shocked and reeling over the course of these events with many having lived in the area for upwards of a decade, saying nothing like this has ever happened before.
“I was just watching TV and then the whole house shook I thought maybe a bomb went off or something,” Paul Watkins said.
“I’ve lived around here for 18 years, there were two car explosions recently just near the school and this was much worse than that.”
Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said a fire was still burning beneath the rubble which crews could not yet reach which was impeding rescue efforts.
“From time to time that’s been flaring up... we’re able to apply water because that drains down and suppresses the fire but from time to time we’ve had to cease operations because of a large amount of smoke,” he said.
He praised emergency services for their amazing work in the effort to sift through debris “piece by piece” looking for the missing woman, but said crews had yet to find anyone in the rubble.
“We believe there is a real possibility a person is within those premises that is being searched,” Comm Fewtrell said.
“Last night we did have a detection dog run over the scene to try and give us any indications but unfortunately there was no indications made by that dog,” Comm Fewtrell said.
“We’ve got plans of the building so we know the configuration originally and are trying to map that agaisnt what crews are seeing in a sort of jumble... we’ll look at every possible part of that to try and find the missing person and that will continue until we can basically say there is no person within the area.”
Despite earlier reports of tapping, the Commissioner took a step back, telling reporters: “There’s been no further indications of any sort of noises or anything like that.
“Some of those reports of tapping was a little bit unconfirmed yesterday, it’s certainly a key part of operations process to be attuned to any noises. We will keep you updated”
The sound of sawing and drilling has been echoing through the street for hours as joint efforts across police, fire rescue and nsw ambulance continue to lift debris from the explosion and locate the missing woman.
Neighbours down the street have had their windows and fences blown out by the force of the explosion, with damage impacting the inside of their homes and sending items flying into their yards.
Sara Dawson, next door resident has lived there for 3-4 years - lives in unit 10
“I wasn’t home at the time but my friend called me while I was at a party, she said where are you?”
“I am shocked we have only been living here 3-4 years”
‘Plausible’ anyone trapped could be alive
Earlier, the state’s top firefighter said it is “plausible” she is still alive, if trapped.
It comes as the five people injured after the explosion, suspected to have been triggered by a gas leak have been released from hospital.
The woman is yet to be found by Fire and Rescue crews and Police Rescue officers after search efforts at the Whalan address continued through “torrential rain” overnight, following the massive explosion which injured five other people and left another accounted for on Saturday afternoon.
Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said on Sunday morning while the scene was “challenging”, emergency services were holding out hope they had survived the night.
“It’s certainly plausible that someone could still be alive in there. It’s certainly been a very challenging scene for someone to have survived.
“There was a very, very large explosion. So the physical impacts of that explosion and then, of course, the consequence of the structural collapse and all the parts of the building, would have been a very challenging situation for anyone to survive.
“But at this stage, we’re unable to rule out that someone’s not, alive. So we’ll continue as a rescue operation for the time being.”
“It’s too early rule out they couldn’t be (alive), and wherever there’s any chance we’ll continue to treat this as a rescue operation, until we hear anything different,” Comm Fewtrell said.
Comm Fewtrell said crews had worked “through the night” in the “very challenging” rescue operation and were now using several tactics to try and locate the missing woman, including drilling into the debris to try and access voids found under the collapse and using “specialist listening equipment” for any further sounds of life, are firefighters heard “taps” last night.
“There’s a whole range of different activities trying to clear the debris, there’s a range of voids and spaces under the collapsed area that they’re continuing to try and access, when we find access to them, we’re putting search cameras in there to check the voids and examine them,” he said.
“We’re using specialist listening equipment so that at times, work will stop on the site. That equipment can be utilised just to pick up even the faintest of sounds. So we’re really applying every possible effort as the search and rescue efforts continue.”
The five people injured during the blast have now been released from hospital, Comm Fewtrell said.
“I’m pleased to be able to say that the information I’ve got is that all the five people that have been to hospital have been assessed and subsequently released. So that’s some, some good news out of this incident.”
Reports of taps and noises heard
Firefighters said “taps and noises” were heard coming from the rubble which they said was a “good indicator that there is still life underneath”. They have also brought in seismic equipment to monitor for ground motion.
On Saturday, emergency sources said crews would work through the night, knowing there was a chance she was alive — despite the cold, heavy rain and mud that had hampered their efforts through the afternoon — determined to find the woman.
Early Sunday, Police declared the search site a crime scene, with officers closing the street, and an increased police presence seen arriving about 730am.
The townhouse in Whalan is now a massive pile of debris following the massive explosion that could be heard suburbs away.
Five other people have been injured and treated by paramedics.
The blast occurred on the second level of the property on Waikanda Cres just before 1pm.
Emergency services responded to a call about an explosion having “blown out” a level of the unit.
Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Ross Genders said search crews had been unable so far to locate one woman who was on the second floor of the property at the time of the blast and fear she was is under the rubble.
“We have a generalised area where we’re searching for them and that’s based on the design of the building,” Superintendent Ross Genders said.
“So we know that it’s the backside of the building where the most rubble has collapsed.
At this time, all we know is that they’re still alive. We’re just going with what we can do.” Superintendent Genders said they have heard “taps and noises” coming from the rubble, which is a “good indicator that there is still life underneath”.
The large blast, believed to have been caused by gas, blew out windows and damaged neighbouring townhouses in the multi-apartment complex.
“We don’t normally see urban collapse like this here. Normally it’s associated with things like an earthquake or we deploy overseas it’s unusual to get this on home turf,’’ he said.
Firefighters earlier rescued a woman in her 60s and a wheelchair-bound woman in her 70s from the ruins after the unit block in Whalan “exploded” and collapsed around 1pm.
Five people suffered injuries and were treated by paramedics.
They also rescued a dog buried in rubble. Their animal was cared for at the scene. Isolation of the gas mains took several hours and finally made it safe enough for rescue crews to step up search operations.
Firefighters late on Saturday cleared rubble and used concrete cutters to remove debris.
A sobbing woman walked from the scene saying she has been pulled from the second story floor and that she had been trapped.
The force of the explosion was felt across the town. A house directly behind the flattened building was covered in debris, its roof tiles blown off.
Multiple windows were smashed in surrounding homes.
Nearby resident Leanne Ansell was sitting on her lounge watching TV with her dog when she heard the massive explosion.
“I raced out. I had actually thought someone had thrown a makeshift bomb on the veranda and I came out to see my windows smashed,” she told The Sunday Telegraph. “Two doors down their house was smashed.
Apparently we got told a kitchen sink had flown down the landway and landed in someone’s loungeroom.”
“People were saying they heard it in Werrington it was that loud.”
Nazmeen Hudson said she heard a “big bang” near her bedroom and heard sirens going past but didn’t know what it was.
She said her nephew called and said there’d been an explosion in her unit complex and it was really bad.
“Two doors down their house was smashed.”
Emergency service sources said the operation would continue through the night despite the difficult conditions caused by the heavy rain, as they were clinging to hope the woman was still alive.
NSW Police said that an investigation into the explosion would soon be launched.
“An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the explosion has commenced,” a statement read.
“Localised traffic diversions are in place. Residents and motorists are urged to avoid the area.”
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