'Everything burned down': Resident describes Bedford flat explosion and escape from burning block

• Watch a video report by ITV News report Matthew Hudson

A resident has described how he fled his flat with just the clothes on his back after a gas explosion in the neighbouring block.

The incident at about 9am yesterday in Redwood Grove, Bedford. At least one person has died in the tragedy, with firecrews warning the building could potentially conceal more bodies.

Adrian Mazurkiewicz and his partner lived in next to the block of flats in Redwood Grove, Bedford where the suspected gas explosion happened.

He said he still feels lucky to have got out unhurt.

"Seeing the terror of this event yesterday morning, coming out of that building and seeing people jumping out of the windows, seeing people bleeding on the floor, I count myself as one of the lucky ones.

"There are quite a few people that are much more affected than we are," he added.

His flat can be seen in the aerial image of the site, to the right of the blue car. His home was destroyed by the fire.

"The whole roof has burned down, it wasn't damaged in the initial explosion but everything burned down."

Two people were taken to hospital with serious injuries and a firefighter was also admitted with smoke inhalation after a gas explosion caused what was described as an “inferno”.

Adrian Mazurkiewicz described the moment that they were forced to flee: "I heard a huge, huge explosion and then saw debris falling from the sky through my kitchen window and I knew something was wrong...as far as I could see debris was falling down.

"I went to my bedroom window opposite the flat which exploded and shouted to my partner to get out as soon as possible.

"There was a lot of smoke already, just a couple of seconds after the explosion. I thought there must be some kind of fire, something really big had happened.

"On my way down I knocked on doors shouting at people to get out."

Mr Mazurkiewicz said they have been offered temporary accommodation by Bedford Council, but said all his identification, bank cards had been lost.

"Everything burned down, it's hard to even think how to recover that at this point. I don't really know what to do. I think the biggest mental challenge is knowing what to do next, trying to figure things out.

"I've never been in that situation before, I don't know anyone who has, it's just hard to find stable ground under your feet."