Two people were seriously injured and 31 others hurt when several buildings collapsed in a suspected gas explosion in Merseyside.
Houses shook and windows shattered in the blast - described as being like an earthquake - leaving bricks and debris strewn on roads in Bebington, Wirral.
A number of houses in the area were evacuated and more than 100 people were moved to a nearby church.
A dance studio for children, which was unoccupied at the time, was destroyed.
Merseyside Police said the two most seriously injured casualties are being treated at Aintree hospital and the Walton neurological centre in Liverpool.
A spokeswoman said 18 of the casualties were taken to hospital and a further 15 went to local hospitals themselves to get treatment.
Dan Stephens, chief officer at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, said the scale of damage in Boundary Road was considerable.
“It’s what we would describe as a total collapse, or the explosion has blown the walls out, which has caused the roof to collapse,” he said.
“It’s a very significant debris field and (there is) lots of structural damage to the surrounding buildings.”
The seriously injured people were taken to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool. Others, less badly hurt, were treated at the Countess of Chester and Arrowe Park hospitals in Merseyside.
One person was taken to the Royal Liverpool Hospital, North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said.
Chief inspector David Westby, of Merseyside Police, said an investigation was under way.
He said: “We’ve got officers at all the hospitals. Detectives are gathering the relevant information in relation to victims and we will commence the investigation...from this point on.”
Eyewitness Adam Dingwell, 36, described seeing someone lying in the street as he drove through Port Sunlight at the time of the explosion.
“We pulled straight over and tried to establish what had happened. Someone came running from the direction of the noise saying that there had been an explosion and a building had been destroyed,” he said.
“When we pulled up we could see... someone was lying in the street”, he said.
The fire service has warned the after-effects of the explosion will last for some time.
Lew Hopkins, who lives close to the site, said the blast “sounded like an earthquake”. “Our whole house shook. It sounded like the windows were about to smash in,” he said.
“I know people about five, six miles away and they heard the explosion as well. Straight away, I ran into the street and all the neighbours were outside.”
Another resident, Mark Hamley, said: “There was a sense of quiet at first. Then you’d hear the odd shout or scream and cry. My main concern was for my girlfriend and my baby. I wanted to know they were safe. I put some clothes on, went outside and by the time that happened, the police were on the scene.”
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