ABC: A LOCAL woman who lives across from the site of Mount Isa’s fatal caravan explosion in Queensland, Australia has described the moment she fled the scene with her two-year-old twins in her arms.
Yendah Lewong from Western Province who now lives in Mount Isa fought back tears as she recalled Tuesday’s blast, which claimed the lives of a man and his two children.
Lewong and her family only last week moved into the house opposite.
On Wednesday morning, Ms Lewong told ABC North West Queensland about how she was asleep in bed on Tuesday morning when a “loud bang” woke her about 7:00am.
“My initial reaction was jump out of bed and run to my two-year-old twins’ bedroom … they were still sleeping,” she said.
“I went straight to door, opened it… Our screen door just fell forward. It was already broken from the impact of the explosion.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this before … and I’m still shaken by it.
“I opened the door and all I could see was … I still can’t believe that happened, it’s just too much to take in at the moment.
Ms Lewong said she saw a lady crying and another person comforting her.
“The lady crying she was saying, ‘there’s blood, there’s blood’.
“I just sort of … everything just went through your mind, you couldn’t think of anything else. You just hoped there was no-one in the caravan.”
‘It’s really hard … I feel for the family’
Ms Lewong said she felt the explosion and the immediate aftermath unfolded quickly.
“The fire truck came, the police came, they started connecting all pipes to hose the fire out, and they just barricaded all the connecting streets,” she said.
“The police went from house to house doorknocking telling people to evacuate and get out as soon as possible for our safety.”
Ms Lewong then grabbed her children, who were still sleeping.
“I just grabbed them with their blanket and ran out of the house and to the next street,” she said.
Ms Lewong offered her prayers to those affected by the blast.
“It was just so hard … having two kids of my own as well, they’re just … I don’t know how to put it into words,” she said.
“The community is lovely out here, it’s … you can’t put into words what just happened unless you were there yourself.
“It’s really hard … I feel for the family.”
