A BUILDER was flown to hospital by air ambulance after he suffered 25 per cent burns in an explosion at a caravan park.

Mark Lord

A BUILDER was flown to hospital by air ambulance after he suffered 25 per cent burns in an explosion at a caravan park.

Fire crews from Leiston and Woodbridge were called to Carlton Meres Country Park in Rendham Road, Carlton, near Saxmundham at 11.45am today after reports that a building was on fire following a gas explosion.

Police and paramedics also attended the scene.

On arrival the fire crews found that a man using a pneumatic drill had cut through a gas pipe in a single storey amenities block causing the explosion and as a result of the blast he had suffered burns to his face, arms and legs.

A spokesman for Suffolk fire service said: “The casualty suffered 25 per cent superficial burns and was conveyed by air ambulance to hospital.”

The air ambulance was called at 12.52pm and arrived at the site at 1.10pm from there it took the helicopter just 14 minutes to fly the injured man to hospital in Colchester.

Rebecca George, spokesman for the air ambulance, said: “The man was taken to Colchester hospital but he will ultimately be transferred to the burns unit at Broomfield Hospital near Chelmsford.”

The caravan park's managers Amanda and John Matthews said that the injured man was a private contractor from Bury St Edmunds who had been working on his own in the amenities block at the time of the explosion.

“It was a dreadful thing to happen, but thankfully it was not as bad as we had first feared or it could have been,” said Mrs Matthews. “I have spoken to his wife and she is keeping us updated. Obviously our thoughts go out to him and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery.”

Mrs Matthews added that the damage was not that bad as it was a brick building and no other buildings in the park had been damaged by the explosion.