By Joanna Morris, BBC News, North East and Cumbria
A person has been severely burned in a house explosion.
Neighbours have spoken of their shock after an explosion destroyed a semi-detached house in Kirkland Walk, Middlesbrough on Tuesday afternoon.
Ambulance and fire crews, along with the Great North Air Ambulance, were called shortly before 13:00 BST.
Describing the moment of the blast, one man said: “I heard a big bang, I was in my living room and it shook the floor to the point I fell off my sofa.”
Another said his front door had “shuddered with the explosion” and he had been shocked by the scale of the emergency service response.
Residents living nearby were evacuated from their properties and the public advised to avoid the area.
A cordon was still in place at the scene at 15:00 BST.
Investigations underway
The Great North Air Ambulance Service said it had sent two doctors and two paramedics to support the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) at the scene.
NEAS said one patient had been flown to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.
A spokesman said it had received a 999 call at 12.42 BST and sent “a duty officer, a clinical team leader, two emergency ambulance crews, a rapid response paramedic, a doctor, four Hazardous Area Response Teams and the air ambulance”.
Engineers from Northern Gas Networks were also called out, the company confirmed.
Business operations lead Steve Pigott said: “Our engineers are on site at the request of the emergency services and are supporting them with their investigations.”