Pensioner burnt in flat explosion

A 79-year-old woman has been airlifted to hospital with burns to her head and hands after an explosion in a flat.

Emergency services were alerted to the incident at the property at Elmwood Court, Hockley, in Essex on Wednesday.

An Essex Ambulance spokesman said the cause of the explosion was unknown but it left the windows of the flat blown out and the exterior walls bowed.

The woman was taken to Broomfield Hospital's burns unit with potentially life-threatening injuries, he added.