Oxfordshire villagers shock at gas explosion at power plant

Severn Trent Green Power, a waste management company in Cassington, was hit by lightning at around 7.20pm causing a gas explosion at the plant on Monday evening.

Residents saw 'a fireball' light up the night sky while the massive explosion could be heard from 20 miles away.

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It has been company confirmed that no one was injured in the blast but police urged residents to stay at home and shut windows and doors.

Jack Frowde, 34, who works at Oxford University, said: “I was sitting in my kitchen when the whole room lit up with a brilliant white light, then followed by a huge crack which sounded like really heavy thunder.

“I looked out of the kitchen window and it was as if the sky was pulsating orange.

“I ran to the back to capture the orange glow as it faded after about 20 seconds.”

Stuart Hosking, in his 50s, from Oxford, an AI business director and former contestant on Big Brother, said: “We were pretty close. I thought it was the sun setting, until I saw the flickering and smoke.

“The lights flickered in the house then a flash, then a rumble like thunder, but a single bang.”

Stuart Hosking

Manager of nearby business Cassington Nurseries, Stuart Patterson, who lives in Banbury, saw the explosion on the news before checking on the plant nursery the morning after.

He said: “I heard it was in Cassington and I thought that’s where I work.

"I thought depending on what exploded you never know what could have been damaged so I came here this morning and checked the canopies and everything is fine.”

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An electric engineer, Velimir Milivojevic, 53, was near the John Radcliffe Hospital when the explosion happened.

He said: “I was in Marston in Oxford but I heard it there.

"I came home at about 8.30pm but I didn’t see anything. Just found out on the internet later that it was an explosion.

“It’s not the first time I heard something like this as I was there for the war in Yugoslavia. It’s nothing new.

“We also had a lot of lightning strikes so I am used to if from childhood."

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Cassington resident Sara Taylor added: “I was going out and it was thundering and lightning generally.

“I was in the car on the way to choir and I saw the sky was orange and doing this weird pulsating thing. I saw the flames whilst I was driving.

“We have had generators blow up before, but not after a thunderstorm but randomly.”

Locals also told of how they received messages from friends and family from elsewhere who had seen the explosion on the news.

One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I was doing the kid's dinner and suddenly I heard a massive thunder lightning, which I thought it was and then the rain started.

“I didn’t think anything of it but I thought it was a bit odd. It was louder than a usual thunder strike and then on the Facebook group page for our village, everyone was talking about the explosion.

“Loads of people messaged me this morning, to say ‘are you okay?’ and ‘what happened because I heard it was in Casterton?’.

“My kids thought it was a lightning strike, they didn’t know what it was. I remained calm as they probably would have freaked out.”

Another added: “We heard what we thought was thunder and lightning and looked out and saw a red sky.

"We heard it but originally thought it was thunder and thought nothing of it until looking on social media.

“We have had messages from friends down in Cornwall asking 'if we are alright' after seeing it on the news.”