FIVE PEOPLE were lucky to escape with minor injuries following an explosion in a residential area in Blackrock, Co Dublin, yesterday afternoon.

Four units of the fire brigade and three ambulances attended the scene of the explosion, which occurred at a private house in St Anne’s Square at about 1.30pm.

“It was a serious explosion,” a fire service spokesman said. “It could have been far worse. Someone could easily have been killed.”

The damaged house was empty at the time of the blast and it is suspected the explosion may have occurred because of a gas leak.