A family has been left homeless following an explosion and a fire at their home.

Homeowner Sarah Crow and teenage daughter Samantha were away visiting relatives when the boiler exploded in a bedroom of the house in Warehouse Villas , Stebbing, on Christmas Day.

Firefighters were called to the house at 10.10pm after neighbours reported an explosion and saw smoke coming from the letterbox.

The blast left the outside walls of the house unstable.

Miss Crow's sister Emma, who lives nearby, said: "Sarah is too upset to talk about what has happened. The boiler blew up and the blast knocked over the Christmas tree causing a fire downstairs."

Neighbour Edwina Winter was in her lounge watching television: "There was a massive bang and I wondered what the hell was going on.

She then ran next door and looked through the letterbox: "All I could see was a cloud of dust. There was no burning, just a hazy aura.

"My concern was that someone was in the house. I thought the worst initially. I hadn't seen Sarah and her daughter go out and the lights were on."

A neighbour got into the house and found it was empty. A council engineer will visit the house to assess the damage.

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