Whalan townhouse explosion: Body is found in search for woman trapped under rubble

A body has been found following a desperate search for a woman trapped under rubble after an explosion levelled a townhouse.

The massive blast occurred on the second level of the property on Waikanda Crescent in Whalan, in Sydney’s west, about 1pm on Saturday.

Jasmin Mhey, 30, was identified on Sunday evening as the missing woman believed to have been trapped in the rubble of the decimated building.

NSW Police provided an update to the search on Monday revealing a woman’s body had been found.

The woman is yet to be formally identified. A report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner.

The horrific explosion was heard streets away and shattered the glass of neighbouring buildings. Five other people were treated at the scene by paramedics. 

The massive blast occurred on the second level of the property on Waikanda Crescent in Whalan, in Sydney’s west, about 1pm on Saturday 

Ms Mhey’s distraught mother, who has kept a vigil across the street with a close eye on the search effort, told neighbours she had reported the smell of gas in the building and in the street in recent months.

Neighbours described the moment she returned to the house. 

‘She (the mother) was on her hands and knees screaming for her daughter,’ a neighbour said.

‘She wouldn’t leave, she sat here in the rain and cold all night saying she wasn’t going until her daughter was out’.

On Sunday, police announced that the search area is a crime scene and officers have closed off the street. 

Early indications suggest the explosion may be the result of a gas leak, however the actual cause is yet to be officially determined.

Emergency services responded to a call on Saturday following reports of an explosion having ‘blown out’ a level of the unit.

Windows were smashed in the explosion and witnesses were heard screaming.

Paramedics treated five people after they suffered injuries following the explosion. 

Two women were rescued from the collapsed structure’s rubble – a woman in her 60s and another woman in her 70s who uses a wheelchair.

The two women were taken to hospital in St George and Hawkesbury but they have since been released. 

Another 12 people from surrounding properties were evacuated, as the blast damaged nearby houses and apartment buildings.

Ambulance NSW told Daily Mail Australia five people were taken to hospital after the blast – three transported to Mount Druitt Hospital and another three to Hawkesbury District District Health Service. Their current conditions are unknown.

Another person was treated at the scene.

Whalan resident Kathleen Morris said the sound of the explosion was massive.

‘I heard a big bang and the whole house shook, everybody came out of their house, wondering what had happened,’ she said.

A resident told the Courier Mail that the explosion ‘shook my home four streets away’.

more to come