About 40 firefighters were involved in the incident

Neighbours reported an explosion at the house in Buckstone Grove at about 1520 GMT on Wednesday. The blast was thought to have been caused by a gas leak.

The injured man was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary but was transferred to St John's Hospital in Livingston, which has a specialist burns unit.

At the height of the incident there were eight fire units at the scene.

Houses in the area around the premises were evacuated, Lothian and Borders Police said.

Gas engineers were on the scene alongside emergency services.

Ambulance staff

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "We responded to a call which was described as a potential gas explosion."

Two other patients were treated at the scene by ambulance staff and were believed to have been suffering from shock. The spokesman said there were no fatalities.

Peter Tant, a landscape contractor living in nearby Buckstone Drive, said little was left of the house.

He said: "I can see the house looking out of my back window and it looks like the whole roof has been blown off.