'I pulled badly burnt neighbour from house that exploded after hearing help me pleas'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

One of the first people at the scene of a huge blast has told how he fought back the tears looking at the 'badly burnt' man who was pulled from the wreckage.Neighbour Oluwafemi Tope was one of the first people at the scene in the immediate aftermath of the explosion which has left a 57-year-old man in hospital with "serious burn injuries".

He heard his neighbour shout 'help me, help me' and directed search efforts before the injured man was pulled from the remains of the semi-detached home in Middlesbrough, Teeside Live reports.The dad-of-three told how he fought back the tears after witnessing - what he could only describe as 'scenes from a movie' - outside of his rented home.

The 42-year-old said his semi-detached home "shook" after what he thought was a "bomb explosion" or a "serious tremor".After running downstairs to check on his elderly neighbour, the destruction unfolded before his eyes.

Speaking less than 24 hours after the "crazy" explosion, he recalled what happened and said he is only now "settling down from the trauma".Oluwafemi, who was working from home at the time of the blast, said: "I heard a bomb explosion, I thought it was my house collapsing from the ground up or was it an accident.