Neighbours of a man who died when a chimney collapsed on to the roof of his house have said they heard a “loud bang” and screaming in the early hours of the morning.
A 47-year-old man suffered fatal injuries when debris from the roof fell into the bedroom of his home on Knight’s Fold, in the Great Horton area of Bradford, at about 5.06am on Sunday.
His 28-year-old partner has been taken to hospital, where she is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, West Yorkshire Police said.
A family from the next-door house, including three children, were taken from their property unharmed.
Paul Wright, 30, of nearby Southfield Lane, said he heard the woman screaming, after being woken up by the noise of the roof collapsing.
He said: “At about half past four this morning I heard a big, loud bang, like an explosion.
“I came out with my partner to see what had gone on and noticed one of the neighbour’s roofs had collapsed and then noticed all the emergency services come.
“It’s a big tragedy to all the neighbours, what’s gone on, it’s just a big shock to everybody.
“They were lovely people, quiet, kept themselves to themselves. I’d only seen them a few times when they were walking their dogs but to me they just seemed nice, pleasant people and it’s just a big shock what’s happened.”
Wright added: “It took them the best part of an hour, over an hour, to get her out the house, which is understandable with all the roof that’s collapsed.
“They had to take the full window out to carry her out.”
Neighbour Simon Gott, 22, said the woman rang his mother, Jacqueline, shortly after the incident.
He said: “She rang my mum 10 minutes after it happened but my mum was asleep, so she must have been scared.”
Iqbal Zahir, who also lives on Southfield Lane, which joins on to Knight’s Fold, said: “It was about half past four in the morning and I heard a big bang. I opened the window and looked around but I couldn’t see anything.
“It’s really sad. It was the chimney, they need repairing, these are old houses.”
Awais Asghar, who works in a nearby corner shop, said: “A chimney collapsed straight on to their roof and straight through and unfortunately the man passed away. He was a regular customer of mine. They were a nice couple.”
It is believed the couple lived in a single storey property on the short cul-de-sac, near busy Great Horton Road, and the chimney fell from an adjoining two-storey home and through their roof.
Building control surveyors were at the house on Sunday and workers from a building and maintenance company were boarding up windows and doors of the property.
Debris could be seen on the roof of the single-storey building and there was a large hole in the roof of the house next door.
Detective Inspector Claudine Binns, of Bradford District CID, said: “This has clearly been a tragic incident in which a man has lost his life and a woman has received some serious injuries.”
Yorkshire Ambulance Service confirmed that they had attended the scene and taken one patient to Leeds General Infirmary.