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A loud explosion in Oxford has shocked residents who gazed up at the night sky to see it lit up orange.

The wild flames are suspected to have been the result of a devastating lightning strike. A Facebook page for Severn Trent Green Power released a statement confirming the blaze came from its facility as a result of a lightning strike at around 7.20pm on Monday.

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Energy company SSE confirmed any power outage on Monday night was nothing to do with the issue at Cassington. One witness shared a jaw-dropping snap of the blast from afar on X, formerly Twitter. They wrote: "Anybody else in Oxford just see that fireball ?? Loud explosion and then the sky just did this ?? ( keep in mind it’s supposed to be dark )."

Another said they rushed to the social media platform for answers, describing what they saw earlier this evening: "The sky was glowing for about 2 minutes then it just disappeared. Like an explosion on the horizon."

A third city resident said the lit-up sky was "pulsing". Sharing a video online, they captioned it: "Saw this strange pulsing sky out of our windows looking north west of Oxford. I’m guessing it’s a fire caused by the lightning storm that passed over."

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The company shared on Facebook: "Severn Trent Green Power can confirm that at around 19:20 this evening, a digester tank at its Cassington AD facility near Yarnton, Oxfordshire, was struck by lightning resulting in the biogas within that tank igniting."

"We are working with the emergency services to secure the site and will provide further comments in due course."

A company representative told the PA news agency that no-one was injured in the incident.-

Jack Frowde, 34, who works at Oxford University, said: "I was sitting in my kitchen when the whole room lit up with a brilliant white light, then followed by a huge crack which sounded like really heavy thunder. I looked out of the kitchen window and it was as if the sky was pulsating orange. I ran to the back to capture the orange glow as it faded after about 20 seconds."

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