Search continues for person feared trapped after Sydney house explosion

A two-storey townhouse located in the suburb of Whalan was almost completely levelled just before 1pm on Saturday by an explosion.

Most of the building collapsed shortly after and emergency crews rushed to Waikanda Crescent where they evacuated five people.

Two women, aged in their 60s and 70s, were rescued by firefighters and treated by paramedics.

A small dog was also freed from the ruins, reportedly in good health.

Fire and Rescue NSW said they were prevented from accessing the rubble straight away because of a large gas leak.   

“The gas mains now have been isolated and those specialists are clearing the rubble,” an update said.

However, one person remains unaccounted for, reported by the Daily Telegraph to be a trainee nurse who was visiting their mother at the time of the incident.

Firefighters are using seismic monitoring equipment to detect any sounds under the ruins of the house which could point to the location of the missing person.

It is understood a specially trained search and rescue dog is also at the scene sniffing at the rubble.

“It is certainly plausible that someone could still be alive in there, it has certainly been a very challenging scene for someone to have survived,” NSW Search and Rescue Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said on Sunday.  

“There was a very, very large explosion. So, the physical impacts of that explosion and then of course the consequence of the structural collapse.”

Crews worked through the night, at times during periods of torrential rain, in their efforts to find the missing person.

A fire is reportedly burning underneath the debris and is proving difficult to put out.

Photos of the scene show bricks, clothes, and furniture smashed into pieces on the ground, while nearby properties had their windows and fences blown out by the impact of the explosion.

Fire and Rescue NSW have yet to formally determine what caused the explosion.