Firefighters were forced to flag down a passing narrowboat to reach the scene of an explosion which injured a man on the Llangollen Canal near Oswestry.The man suffered serious burns when a fireball shot through a boat at the isolated New Marton Locks near St Martins.

Firefighters and a community first responder flagged down passing narrowboats to get to the incident and carry one of the injured to a waiting ambulance at 6.30pm yesterday.

Effie Cadwallader, a volunteer first responder with the ambulance service, said : “I managed to get my car along the tow path to where the narrowboat was. The windows had all been blown out but thankfully the boat itself hadn’t caught fire.

“The 59-year-old man, from Nantwich suffered potentially serious burns to his face, arms and feet and I started treating him.

“There was no way an ambulance would get to the scene so I flagged down a passing boat and put the patient on board. We met the crew at the lock and they took over his treatment.”

Fire crews from Oswestry and Ellesmere also attended.

Fire station manager John Davies said he, his crew and their equipment were also carried to the incident in a passing narrowboat and praised those on the boat for their help.

“We could not have carried all our equipment along the towpath so were very grateful for the lift,” he said.

“There had been an explosion in a generator at the front of the boat and a fireball had gone through the cabin, blowing the windows out.”

The man was taken by ambulance to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital along with a woman who was unhurt but shocked.