Gas Blast Damages Floors and Ceilings at Conisbrough

Four children and their mother had a lucky escape from an explosion in their home on Monday evening when leaking gas exploded in a space between the upstairs floor and a downstairs ceiling.

The explosion, at the home of Mr and Mrs J. Mitchell of, 34, Daylands Avenue, Conisbrough, blew holes in the ceilings in the kitchen, bathroom and sittingroom.

Mrs. Mitchell lit the gas stove in the kitchen and the heat of this ignited gas which had escaped from an old gas pipe in the upper rooms. Shortly before the explosion, however Mrs. Mitchell had gone upstairs and the children had dashed off on hearing the ice cream man in the street outside.

When Mrs. Mitchell heard the “terrific explosion,” as she told a reporter, she dashed downstairs and was greeted with the sight of her usual spotless house splattered with plaster.

There was a hole 6’ x 4’ in the kitchen another 8’ x 3’ in the sitting room, and another 4 ft.² in the bathroom. The bathroom door frame had been almost blown out and the wall was littered with soap, sponges, shaving brushes and other toilet articles.

Mrs Mitchell was unarmed, as the only damage upstairs was to the oilcloth, which had been blown up from the floor.

Mr Mitchell, a storekeeper at Simon Carves, was at work at the time. Luckily there was no fire.