16/01/2017 North West Tonight

Two people are in hospital tonight, after an explosion wrecked two

Three other people were treated for injuries at the scene

Neighbours have described how their homes were

Our chief reporter, Dave Guest, reports.

A terraced house reduced to ruins in an instant, neighbours left

It was just like a bomb had gone off.

Literally, the ground shook, the trees shook in me garden.

And we turned around and there was just black smoke everywhere.

You could smell, like, gas but, like, an oil burning smell.

I stuck my head out the window, we saw the neighbours flooding out

and everything like that, so we realised at that point

it was something big, we thought it was, like,

I could see two of the people were injured that I seen.

One person was bloodied up on the head, just

My niece actually lives in the property over the road,

she phoned me hysterical, crying, she said there's been

an explosion, the couch nearly come off the floor,

a few neighbours' windows have gone in, and I flew

It's now about two and a half hours since the blast happened,

the road, Cecil Road, is now completely cordoned off.

The Fire Service have sent in search dogs to just check

whether there are any other casualties in the wrecked building.

Thankfully there were no further casualties found,

This kitten was pulled alive from the wreckage by firefighters.

It appears to have suffered some blast and burn injuries.

We're just waiting on the RSPCA and hopefully we can get

And at this stage you're treating it as a gas explosion?

We suspect it may have been a gas explosion but there is a joint

investigation under way by ourselves, the police,

and National Grid gas are on the scene and are isolating

Houses on either side have been affected by the blast,

it's not certain when immediate neighbours will be able

So tonight two people remain in hospital, one in Salford Royal,

the other in Wythenshawe, and the investigation

into exactly how this explosion was caused continues.

The funeral has taken place for two cousins who were killed

in an alleged hit-and-run in Oldham on New Year's Eve.

Hundreds of people came to pay their respects to the youngsters,

Zaneta Krokova, who was 11, and 12-year-old Helina Kotlarova

were holding hands crossing a road when they were hit by a car.

Four men have been charged in relation to their deaths.

They were inseparable during their short lives, rarely apart.

Today their small white coffins were taken to St Paul's Church in Oldham,

just metres from the hit-and-run which killed Helina Kotlarova on New

Year's Eve and claimed the life of Zaneta Krokova.

Ahead of the funeral I spoke to Helena's family.

She was the craziest one out of the sisters.

She was, like, holding them together.

we don't know if we're going to get through it.

Neighbours here will tell you the girls always wanted to be

This selfie was taken shortly before they died.

When it happened they were holding hands, and they've passed away,

Mourners stood at the sides and back, the church was so full.

An accordion and the girls' favourite songs were played

The Reverend Nick Andrews said he knew the girls personally.

They would often sit on the bench or walls of the church.

He said Helena was full of energy and life, Zaneta

The deaths of both cousins had affected this community deeply.

After the service a large cloud followed the procession

to a crematorium, where the final goodbyes were said.

Four men are in custody after being charged over the incident.

The former Crewe Alexandra football coach Barry Bennell has pleaded not

guilty to eight child-sex offences, dating back to the 1980s.

The 63-year-old, who appeared at Chester Crown Court

via videolink from HMP Woodhill, has been remanded in custody

Police investigating the disappearance of a woman

from Fulwood near Preston 15 months ago have discovered a body.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Victoria Cherry was 44 when she disappeared.

A health trust in Barrow has appealed to staff to work extra

shifts to help cope with mounting pressures this winter.

The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust is also

looking at innovative ways to overcome bed blocking and ease

More and more patients are coming through the doors.

It's consultant Paul Grout's job to treat them.

At the moment we have every single cubicle bar one full of patients

that have come in on ambulances needing proper assessment.

The problem we have at the moment is we haven't got anywhere

for those ambulance patients to be put, consequently ambulances

are backing up here waiting to be able to hand over their patients.

Queues build up when beds in the main hospital are blocked

with patients fit to be discharged but waiting for a bed

in a nursing or care home to become free.

So the hospital is innovating and has just commissioned 12

Faversham House nursing home in Greater Manchester is one of over

40 homes and two hospitals in the Trafford area piloting

a new system to reduce delays in finding care-home beds.

Previously we used to have a team who would ring the nursing homes

on a Friday morning and complete a spreadsheet with the available

bed information and e-mail it out to the teams needing to know

It can be out of date by the time the phone call is finished.

This new Bed State Tracker app gives real-time information on what beds

It can be updated every minute of the day.

The Lancashire company which has developed it believes it

could save the NHS millions in lost bed days.

We have a vision that a discharge coordinator will go down

the ward and find a home and in three clicks have that person

Pressures faced by the NHS won't ease any time soon

but on the front line they are doing all they can to offer quality care

A statue of Cilla Black has been unveiled in Liverpool,

as part of celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the opening

Cilla, who died two years ago, was a cloakroom girl there.

Our Merseyside reporter, Andy Gill, joined the crowds.

Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Cilla Black.

Cilla Black's family were in Liverpool for the unveiling.

They commissioned the statue partly as a thank you to the city

It moved us and profoundly affected us in a good way,

and we wanted to try and do something that had a lasting...

you know, something that would last and be a good thing.

The sculptor worked with the family to get the likeness right.

They have told us stories, given us photographs we would never

have seen and have been very involved, I have seen Robert

regularly, they couldn't have helped any more than they did.

Cilla was a cloakroom girl at the original Cavern

The statue shows Cilla in her '60s pomp, Vidal Sassoon bob

and miniskirt, on which you'll find key events from Cilla's life,

I love it and she would be amazed to have a statue of herself

The Cavern started as a jazz club but became world famous

Cilla's family have kept the copyright of the statue and any

reproductions is going to go to Liverpool charities.

They have captured her hair and her figure really, really well.

I think it is absolutely marvellous and a great tribute to Cilla.

That is all the news from me. Now let's look at the weather.

It has been grade, doll and drizzly and a challenge to find anything

different from that through the next week. The positive is we will see

some mild temperatures, thanks to this area of high pressure and where

it is situated. If you follow the isobars around, that is where the

wind is blowing. We will see relatively mild temperatures. In the

more southern parts of the country the air is coming towards them from

the continent, which is colder. There is a north-south divide

through the week, we have the pulled up and drizzly stuff but the

temperatures are infinitely better. The cloud base is very low, it looks

like this cloud is pushing into wards the early hours. You will

start the day at temperatures of four or five or six, the cloud base

is low, the visibility is poor. Numbers and bad during the day,

seven or 8 degrees. Overnight, five to seven. By Wednesday you might

catch a chink of sunshine as the weather front polls away. Again the

numbers, eight or 9 degrees, you wouldn't expect that at this time of

year. Thursday or Friday should be largely dry pitches. Next the

national picture and the cooler figures for the South of England.

perhaps a little milder. If you like the mild weather, you'll have to

head elsewhere in the country. Find out more in the national weather

forecast. Our weather is going against normal expectations this

week. In Highland Scotland some snow to be seen on the hills.

Temperatures as high as 12 Celsius today. Over the next few days the

coldest air is in the far south-east of England where there is sunshine

to be had. Four or five Celsius in Kent. Differences remain over the

next few days and here is why. I pressure in