Mystery surrounds huge explosion as investigators say hair tongs are not to blame

The blame for the explosion had been placed on hair-styling tongs that use refillable gas canisters, but a fingertip search of a bedroom at the centre of the fire found no evidence they were involved.

The school friends, who are all in a critical condition, had been dressing for a Christmas party when the explosion occurred.

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Anya Evans, 15, her sister Kira, 14, and their friends Nadine Fardon, 14, and Kimberly Patterson, 15, ran screaming into the street with their clothes on fire.

The force of the blast blew a massive hole through the roof of the house and started a fire which spread to neighbouring properties.

All four girls are still on life support machines with with burns covering 29 to 41 per cent of their bodies.

Fire investigators say reports that hair straighteners or curling tongs could have caused the explosion are "press speculation".

The news comes as women in Wales have been rushing to shops in a desperate bid to take back their hair-styling tongs, many which had been bought as Christmas gifts.

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Investigators said no remains of straighteners or tongs were found in the house in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

However, in a statement the fire service revealed they had discovered "large number of pressurised aerosol canisters" in the bedroom, which were now being examined.

Doctors have said that the girls, who have already undergone emergency surgery, would need to stay in hospital for some time after Monday afternoon's fire.

Hamish Laing, consultant plastic surgeon at the hospital, said: "They suffered burns to their faces and have already undergone surgery.

"It was a flash flame injury in a confined space. But we won't know exactly what happened until the girls wake up and tell us.

"Their condition is critical and they are on breathing machines.

"But we are optimistic about their condition - their injuries are hopefully not life-threatening and we believe they will get better."

He added: "All four girls will need skin grafts and at least one will need plastic surgery.

"All four are critically ill and we expect that to be the case for several days."

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The explosion could be heard for miles around, and neighbours on either side were forced to evacuate as the flames spread onto their roofs.

Neighbour Nicola Paskin, 34, said at the time: "The girls were seen fighting their way through smoke and flames to get out of the burning house.

"They looked very distressed and their clothes were blackened.

"The trouser legs of two of them were burned right off and one of the others had cuts to the face."

Today Fire officers spoke about the full extent of the damage to the sisters' house.

They said there was a "significant gas explosion" in the rear first-floor bedroom.

In a statement, they said: "The explosion was strong enough to severely damage the internal bedroom walls and ceiling, blow out the glass from the double-glazed bedroom window and also blow out the double-glazed window in the downstairs kitchen.

"The ensuing fire destroyed the bedrooms, landing area and the roof of this property plus the roofs of the two adjoining properties.

"Though suffering from severe burns, the four girls were lucky to survive this incident.

"During a fingertip search of the bedroom investigators found and removed a large number of pressurised aerosol canisters for possible further evaluation.

"Pressurised aerosol containers contain a small quantity of highly inflammable butane gas which acts as an expellant for the contents.

"Due to fire damage the exact contents of all of the canisters cannot be confirmed at this time.

"Despite some press reports of the explosion and fire being started by gas-fuelled hair straighteners this has not been endorsed by investigators and should be considered as press speculation.

"No remains of hair straighteners or curling tongs were found during the search of the bedroom."

County commander Gethin Davies said a senior fire investigator and forensic scientist had not reached any conclusions about the cause of the blast.

He said: "We would like to ask that members of the public do not speculate about the cause of the fire, because it only adds to the grief of the family."

He explained that just one canister could have caused the amount of damage seen at the house.

The girls were pupils at Coedcae Comprehensive in Llanelli, South Wales.

Headmaster Harvey Jones said: "We are deeply saddened to hear of the injuries suffered by the girls.

"They are very lively characters with a large circle of friends within the school.

"We are in a state of shock at the fire and have held a special assembly to share our feelings."

Town councillor John Jenkins said: "Looking at the state of the building it is amazing that anyone got out alive. It's a Christmas miracle that the girls survived."