Blast tears apart block of flats

The damage cause by the blast

An explosion has torn apart a block of flats in Wigan, injuring eight people.

Two of them are in a serious condition after being badly burned in the blast, which destroyed the first and second floor flats on Saturday night.

Specialist teams of rescue workers have searched the building and neighbouring flats have been evacuated.

An investigation is now under way to find the cause of the blast. Officials said they were checking out whether it was "some form of gas explosion".