‘If someone was in they could’ve died’: Neighbours’ shock after front of Hyson Green shop blown out

Video: The explosion happened on Sunday night.

Hyson Green residents say people could’ve died after ‘a loud and scary’ explosion badly damaged a shop which caught fire on Sunday night.

The front of The Persian Super Market, Radford Road, was blown out by the blast at around 10.35pm.

No-one was hurt in the incident, and Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service declared the incident over at 11.21pm.

Firefighters using breathing equipment put out the flames and spoke to the owner, who arrived on the scene.

The blast is thought to have been caused by pressurised containers which heated up during the blaze.

Ahmed Karim, 40, owns Fresh Market across the road from the supermarket.

“He’s my neighbour opposite. I closed my shop around 10pm last night and it happened around 10.30pm,” he said.

The Persian Super Market, Radford Road.

“I spoke to people who left here at midnight and they said the fire was caused by electricity and gas.

“It was too much noise; it was a big noise. It took the shutter off, the window and everything which went into the middle of the street.

“Everybody was shocked – it wasn’t like a normal, small fire. It was a big bottle of gas. It was good nobody was there [in the shop at the time].

“If someone was in, they could’ve died. Thank God there were no people there. The shutter and window were heavy and someone there could’ve died.”

Shalaw Hussain, 25, from Hyson Green, runs Solens Mini Market next door.

He said: “There was an explosion yesterday. We went outside to see what was happening and the fire brigade people told us there were problems to the wires and the fire extended and the canisters exploded.

“The front shutter came off; it was quite loud and scary. It was really loud. We were [initially] getting wrong thoughts about it. Afterwards we found it was an explosion to the electricity.

“The fire lasted long but it took hours [to put out]. No-one was injured. No-one was in at the time, it was closed.”