EMERGENCY crews were left baffled after they were called to a Burnley house to investigate a mysterious hole which appeared in the roof.

Police and fire crews raced to the house in Mary Towneley Fold at about 10.20pm on Thursday after the owner reported a flash of light and a hole in the roof of the bedroom.

The rubble which fell through the roof injured 19-year-old Matthew O'Brien who was playing on his computer.

A search of the house and the surrounding area failed to find anything which could have caused the damage - a one foot hole in the slate roof tiles - and police and the fire crews have been left stumped.

Sub-officer Dave Robinson, from Burnley fire station, said: "It's a bit of a mystery.

"We searched the bedroom and the roof and there was no sign of any heat source or charring, which you would expect from something like a powerful firework.

"So we don't really know what the cause was."

Police even called Manchester Airport to check whether the house was under a flight path and could have been hit by falling debris from an aircraft, but the damage remains a mystery.

Matthew's father, Stephen, 46, said: "There was a very loud bang and a flash of light and then a huge hole in the roof. It's lucky Matthew was up at the time rather than in bed or it could have been much worse. He only has cuts and bruises."