Army bomb disposal team carries out controlled explosion at homeless hostel

Kenneth Fox

A controlled explosion was carried out at the scene where a man died in a blast at a homeless hostel in Dublin city.

They are assisting gardaí with their investigation into a fatal explosion at the hostel in Dublin on Thursday.

One man died in an explosion at the DePaul hostel on Little Britain Street. The man, aged in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

As the Irish Examiner reports, the explosion was confined to one room within the property, and no one else was injured.

In a statement late on Thursday night, gardaí said they are "actively investigating the cause of an explosion" and have commenced a forensic and technical examination with assistance from the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal service.

An autopsy is due to be carried out on Friday on the man who died.

DePaul confirmed all those who had been staying at the shelter were safely evacuated and alternative accommodation for them has been found.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: "DePaul can confirm that all service users in our Little Britain Street service have been evacuated from the building tonight and alternative placements have been found following the incident today.

"The building was evacuated in an exemplary manner, adhering to our safety protocol.

"Our heart goes out to the service user who lost their life, as well as their family and service users who were in the building at the time.

"This was an isolated incident, confined to one room and no other service users were physically harmed in this incident.

"We wish to thank the emergency services, DRHE (Dublin Region Homeless Executive), and our NGO partners for their assistance in the emergency response."