Seven people injured after explosion rips through houses in Kent

Trapped residents freed by emergency services as blast destroys house in Willesborough, near Ashford

Seven people have been injured, two of them seriously, after an explosion left a gaping hole in a row of houses in Kent, emergency services have said.

Witnesses described feeling their homes shudder on Tuesday morning as the blast destroyed much of a house in Willesborough, near Ashford, leaving the chimney breast towering into the air.