Fire crews are continuing their search for the fourth victim of a suspected gas explosion which killed a family in Lanarkshire.

Three bodies - those of Jeanette Findlay, 36, and her two children Stacy, 13, and Daryll, 11 - were recovered after the house blew up about 0530GMT on Wednesday.

But, as the light diminished and the risk of further explosions continued, the emergency services called off their hunt for Andrew Findlay, 34.

Engineers from the gas distribution company Transco worked into the evening with police and the Health and Safety Executive to establish why the house on Carlisle Road, Larkhall, was torn apart with such ferocity.

Early indications point to a gas leak, but investigators say they will not know for certain until the area has been made absolutely safe and they can continue their inquiries.

Families rehoused

It could be several days before the cause has been pinpointed.

In the meantime, an incident room has been set up at Hamilton Police Station and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

Several families were evacuated from their homes after the explosion which destroyed the eight-year-old detached bungalow in which the Findlays had lived for about two years.

Nearby houses were left smothered in wreckage but all neighbours escaped injury.

Windows were blown out, a fridge landed on the roof of a neighbouring house and a child's pram could be seen in the rubble.

Pieces of the house were blown onto a factory across Carlisle Road.

A friend of the Findlays, Catherine Pink, described them as being very close.

'A lovely family'

She said: "They were a lovely family, the kids were beautiful. Stacy was very talented - she had a part in a show at Larkhall Academy but they've cancelled it."

"I was heartbroken when I heard the news. There's devastation in the community. No-one can take it in."

Reverend Jim Hastie, of Chalmers Parish Church, said: "This is a terrible tragedy to have happened and it's a tragedy for the whole community.

"We are a close-knit community and we will have to draw strength from one another. I was at Craigbank Primary and children asked me to pray with them.

"The children said they were going to make some kind of memorial to the family and they were remembering the best things about how Daryll used to make them laugh."

A Christmas concert at Larkhall Academy on Wednesday night, in which Stacy was due to participate, was postponed as a mark of respect