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Castleford: Man held after gas blast wrecked row of houses
The incident scene.
AN arrest has been made in connection with a huge gas explosion which ripped through a row of six Castleford houses.
A 27-year-old man was arrested late on Friday night by West Yorkshire Police after the incident that wrecked homes in Rhodes Street, left, in the High-town area.
The man, from the Castleford area, was taken into police custody on Saturday for questioning.
The explosion is believed to have been sparked after bungling copper cable thieves tried to steal an overhead power line and left it dangling behind the row of terraced houses.
Firefighters were called just before 1.30am on Friday to a string of small fires on the street before quickly realising the danger and evacuating around 30 residents just minutes before the explosion.
Windows were blown from their frames, brick walls were destroyed and roofing was heavily damaged as a result of the blast.
Two people who were unable to get downstairs due to smoke logging were rescued from upstairs windows.
Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries.
Electricity supplies to 63 properties and gas supplies to 55 properties in the Hightown area were interrupted as a safety precaution.
The incident happened just five days after 16-year-old Ryan Woolams was killed after tampering with cable at a disused power station at Skelton Grange, in Stourton, Leeds.
Any witnesses of suspicious behaviour before the incident should contact Wakefield CID on 0845 6060606.
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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