A neighbour said they heard a ‘mighty bang’ and the roof ‘came off’ in an explosion and fire at a house on Saturday that killed one person.

Bedfordshire Police said one person had died and another had been taken to hospital with serious injuries following the incident in Cleat Hill.

A neighbour heard a "mighty bang" and said the roof "came off" in an explosion and fire at a house in which a man died and a woman suffered serious injuries. Emergency services were called to Cleat Hill in Bedford at about 07:00 BST on Saturday. The injured woman remains in hospital and some residents have yet to return to homes nearby.

Police said neighbouring houses were evacuated after the house fire in Cleat Hill near Bedford. | ITV News Anglia

One person has been killed and another seriously injured after an explosion and fire at a house in Bedford. Homes in the town’s Cleat Hill area were evacuated after the emergency services rushed to the scene shortly after 7.

A neighbour heard a ‘mighty bang’ and said the roof ‘came off’ after an unexplained explosion killed one person when it ripped through a home in Bedford. A second person was taken to hospital to be treated for serious injuries following the incident in Cleat Hill on Saturday morning,

A huge police probe is underway in a residential area where an explosion, and subsequent fire killed one and left another battling serious injuries.