Dozens feared trapped after factory blast
Rescue workers were searching for survivors trapped in the rubble of a factory which was destroyed in explosion today leaving at least two people feared dead.
Dozens of people were injured in the blast at a Glasgow plastics factory just after midday and up to 20 people were feared to be trapped.
The four-storey Stockline Plastics building in Grovepark Street, off Maryhill Road in the west end of the city, was reduced to rubble.
Witnesses described hearing a huge explosion. Survivors ran screaming on to the street as debris sent flying into the air began raining down.
Vehicles parked close to the factory were covered in rubble.
One survivor said a meeting was being held in an upstairs room when the blast occurred.
Daniel Gilmour, who suffered cuts to the head, said: “My boss is still in there. He was holding a conference in the conference room upstairs.”
Firefighters and police officers could be seen searching through the rubble of the building while passers-by helped treat survivors.
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow said accident and emergency rooms at the city’s Western Infirmary, Royal Infirmary and Southern General hospitals were preparing to take any casualties.
Two Royal Navy helicopters were also put on standby in case they could be used.
The worst of the casualties were taken away on stretchers by paramedics.
Dozens of workers and onlookers gathered in the street outside the factory gates.
One woman, who was shopping in a nearby store when she heard a massive explosion, said: “I heard a loud explosion and ran out of the store.
“I could hear people screaming and there were people running about covered in blood.
“There were people buried in the rubble. They were screaming for help – it was horrific.”
Another witness said: “I was walking close to Maryhill Road and I heard a massive thunderous explosion.
“I looked up and I saw that the building had just about collapsed and there was thick black smoke coming from it.
“The people who managed to get out had set up themselves in a line and were trying to get other people out.
“I heard people scream. I heard their screams and, as far as I understand, there are people still trapped inside what’s left of the building.”
The man, who was still shaking, said that he had heard only one explosion.
The streets surrounding the area were closed off and a police cordon set up around the perimeter of the factory, next to a small shopping centre.
Hundreds of people had gathered in the streets to witness the commotion and many were visibly distressed, shocked and crying.
A line of ambulances queued near the entrance to the factory, which is believed to have been four storeys high.
Scottish Ambulance treatment tents were set up outside.
Firefighters and paramedics were searching through the wreckage, pulling back bricks, slabs of concrete, bits of wood, to try to reach the people believed to be trapped.
The roof of the building had collapsed, bringing down walls and leaving only half a shell of the red brick building standing.
The roof of a building attached to the structure had partly caved in under falling rubble.
A worker at a car showroom directly opposite the building said: “Our building shook. We ran out and could not believe what we saw. It had completely collapsed. There was smoke, bricks, concrete, rubble everywhere.
“It was such a big bang, tiles in our showroom fell off the ceiling and the ground seemed to move.”
Gerry McGuinness, 44, a technician who was working at the nearby Dentec dental lab, ran to the scene immediately after the blast.
He said: “I just heard a massive explosion. It was really loud, it sounded like a bomb going off. It nearly shook me off my seat, the blast was so strong.
“We ran up and started taking some of the bricks away. There were four guys and one girl trapped under the rubble. We couldn’t see them but they were screaming at us for us to help them.
“We were trying to move the bricks when a man came and told us to stop because it may be unsafe, then the police arrived.
“If anyone gets out of that alive, they’ll be lucky.”
Mary Morrow, who works in La France hairdressers on Maryhill Road just opposite the site of the blast, said: “We just heard an explosion, it was absolutely colossal.
“It shook the windows of the shop. We ran out to see what had happened but all we could see was a massive cloud of smoke and dust.
“Within about five minutes the police and ambulances started to arrive. They were everywhere.”
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear although survivors suggested one of four ovens in the factory – two electric and two gas – may have exploded.
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