Pensioner, 67, dies in house blast while being treated by paramedics who miraculously escaped property after her oxygen tank exploded in conservatory
- Lynn Hadley, 67, was killed and her husband David, 70, badly injured during blast
- Mr Hadley had been changing his wife’s oxygen cylinder when it ignited
- Their Shelfield, Walsall, home was blown apart by and damaged by fire
A disabled pensioner was killed and her husband seriously injured when her oxygen bottle exploded in a devastating blast that tore the roof off their home.
Wheelchair-bound Lynn Hadley, 67, was with her husband David, 70, in their conservatory when the blast ripped through their home in Shelfield, Walsall, on Easter Monday.
Paramedics, who were already responding to a medical emergency at the scene before the explosion, told neighbours Mr Hadley had been changing his wife’s oxygen cylinder she used to help her breathing when it suddenly ignited.
The conservatory was completely destroyed and the roof of their end terrace house was blown apart.
Smoke pours from Mr and Mrs Hadley’s home in Shelfield, Walsall, after an explosion
Four other adults and a child, believed to be family members, were evacuated from the property, but Mrs Hadley died at the scene.
Neighbours expressed their shock at Mrs Hadley’s death and described her as ‘one in a million’.
Trevor Burgess, 76, a retired HGV driver who lives two doors away from the couple with his wife Mary, 66, said: ‘My partner Mary knows Lynn and Dave quite well. She was close to them.
‘Lynn and Dave moved in when the houses were built in the 1970s. We didn’t go out when it happened as I am diabetic.
The deadly blast ripped the roof off the house on Easter Monday, with paramedics reportedly already in the property
The fire-damaged property was taped off by emergency services after the fatal explosion
‘We were watching from the front step.
‘The damage wasn’t as bad from the front but the back has been destroyed. The rear part where the conservatory was on fire.
‘Apparently they were changing Lynn’s oxygen bottle because she needed it to help her breathing and it suddenly exploded.
‘That’s what the two paramedics told me who was by the house.
‘They had no option. They couldn’t save her. Dave was the one who raised the alarm. The conservatory has completely gone.
‘It is absolutely devastating. You just can’t comprehend it. The emergency services were fantastic. They came from everywhere.
Windows blown out from the rear of the house, above the conservatory where Mrs Hadley was being treated
Paramedics at the scene told neighbours Mr Hadley had been changing his wife’s oxygen cylinder she used to help her breathing when it suddenly ignited
‘There were three or four engines and about four ambulances.
‘The police have been outside the house all night in a van, probably to stop people from going into the house.
‘The family has just come back now this lunchtime. We can’t really go out and help them due to the lockdown.
‘We can’t offer them our condolences or even a cup of tea or coffee. It’s completely heartbreaking. She was one-in-a-million.’
Neighbours expressed their shock at Mrs Hadley’s death and described her as ‘one in a million’
Windows at the front of the property where the explosion took place, ripping through the entire house
Michael Oakley, 74, who lives nearby with his wife, Josephine, 72, said: ‘We were told that the owner’s wife was in the conservatory.
‘She has an oxygen bottle and it suddenly exploded for some reason. That is what we have been told.
‘We didn’t know until the owner and his daughter came out and phone an ambulance.
‘I said to my wife that the house was on fire. I didn’t know the family too well.’