DEVASTATED staff were left “shocked, bewildered and stunned” by a deadly explosion at Huddersfield’s famous Andrew Jones pie factory.
Investigations were continuing today into the massive gas blast that left one worker dead and another six injured at the Old Leeds Road site.
The dead man has been named as 37-year-old David Cole, from the Salterhebble area of Halifax.
Another man, 24-year-old Marcus Cartwright from Crosland Moor, suffered serious injuries to his spine and throat and a punctured lung.
He was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary before being moved to Leeds General Infirmary, where he was in a serious condition yesterday.
The other five staff were not seriously hurt.
Company sales manager Graham Easby said: “Everyone is shocked, bewildered and stunned. You can replace a building, you can’t replace a person.”
The explosion, which happened shortly after 5am, caused a roof to collapse, trapping Mr Cole.
Mr Easby received a call from company founder Andrew Jones at about 5.30am.
He said: “He was very distressed, saying there had been a problem at the factory and a wall had been blown out.
“I went straight there and when I got there there were about 150 people, including firefighters, police, paramedics and the bomb squad.
“I was just thinking ‘I hope everyone is all right.’”
A police cordon was put in place around a wide area surrounding the factory while work was carried out to secure the building.
Firefighters and urban search and rescue teams worked painstakingly into the afternoon to make the factory safe so they could free Mr Cole’s body.
Mr Easby said: “It’s a tragic loss of a colleague who came to work to provide for his family and who unfortunately won’t be going home to join them.”
He added: “This is a family business, and there are a lot of people who have known each other for a lot of years. They are stunned.
“Andrew is numb. This is anybody’s worst nightmare.”
He said there had been massive support from other staff who were not working.
“People have been ringing to see if there’s anything they can do to help,” he said.
“Everybody works hard and plays hard. We’re all very close.”
The company’s shop at Westbourne Road, in Marsh, was open yesterday, but a sign told customers there was limited opening “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
The shop at Bethel Street in Brighouse was closed.
Mr Easby said the company, which has a smaller factory in Brighouse, would await the results of investigations by police and the Health and Safety Executive before deciding what to do next.
“We will contact staff and ask them what they want to do from this point,” he said.
“We won’t be doing anything until next week at the earliest, but at some point we have to move on.”
Keith Robinson, group manager for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, described the scene after fire crews arrived yesterday.
He said: “There were seven employees in the building at the time of the explosion.
“Six of those escaped, one with quite serious injuries, but unfortunately one person was still inside who was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The roof had collapsed and it was total carnage inside the building.
“We knew where the persons were. We could see them, but we had to make sure it was safe before we moved them, so we didn’t cause a further roof collapse.
“It’s too early to say what has caused the incident.”
Police and the Health and Safety Executive are involved in investigating what happened.
Mr Robinson added: “It’s a major tragedy at this time of year, we never want this kind of thing to happen.
“It does appear to have been a tragic accident.
“Our thoughts and sincere condolences go out to all the seven people involved, but in particular the person who has lost their life.”
Supt Tim Forber of West Yorkshire Police said: “West Yorkshire Police responded to a call at about 5.20am to reports of an explosion.
“We worked with the fire service, urban search and rescue and the ambulance service to facilitate search and rescue.
“An investigation is now under way to establish the cause and we are working with the Health and Safety Executive to do that.”
A spokesman for Northern Gas Networks, which sent engineers to the incident, said: “We were called in to support the emergency services after initial reports of an explosion.
“We were able to isolate the supply to the factory itself, but did not have to cut supplies to any other properties in the area.
“Our engineers carried out thorough safety checks for any gas leaks and the area is completely safe. We will be working with the emergency services and the HSE.”
Firm's long history of success
ANDREW Jones launched Andrew Jones (Pies) Ltd from a butcher’s shop in Brighouse in 1994.
The company makes and supplies baked meat and potato products to two butchers’ shops in Marsh and Brighouse and to more than 100 other butchers, farm shops, sandwich shops and retail outlets around Huddersfield.
Last year the firm started supplying Morrisons and Asda through a scheme to encourage major retailers to stock more goods from regional suppliers.
The company has also introduced unbaked frozen products allowing deliveries to be made further afield.
Turnover has increased more than 50% to £787,000 since 2005, while employee numbers have expanded from 18 to 28.
Mr Jones and his staff have picked up a string of trophies in regional and national competitions for the quality of their pork pies, Cornish pasties and sausages.
Among its latest triumphs, the firm was named national champion Cornish pasty maker for 2008 and winner of the best food product from Yorkshire in the 2007 Great Taste Awards.
Andrew Jones also won five gold medals in the National Pie Competition 2008 in Birmingham.
The company, a stalwart supporter of the annual Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival, has even created a St George’ Day pie with an English flag on the crust.
