A loud “boom” has left scores of residents in the West End mystified.

Reports of an explosion and shaking houses on Monday evening led to a search in Sandys by the Bermuda Police Service and the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service.

But nothing untoward was found and neither LF Wade International Airport nor the Bermuda Weather Service reported anything out of the ordinary.

“I heard something but I didn’t know what it was,” legendary footballer Clyde Best, who lives on East Shore Road, told The Royal Gazette.

“I wish I knew because it was mind-boggling. It was just like a big boom. I’m sure there was a little shake — you heard the whole house rattle. I went outside — everyone was outside.”

Mr Best said he thought a wall may have collapsed in the garden but everything was fine. “I’ve been in earthquakes but it was nothing like that,” he added.

Another resident of East Shore Road, who asked not to be named, said it almost “felt like a cannon going off”.

“It sounded slightly like an explosion-slash-earthquake because the whole house actually shook. It kind of scared me and I came outside.”

She said her neighbours had also come out and she checked around the house before heading back inside.

Raymond Crofton, who lives on Honeysuckle Lane, said he felt the tremor and heard the loud noise despite the TV being on.

“It had to be a massive blast for that to shake the foundation,” he said. “That was something that was man-made; just a blast or a tremor, not an earthquake.

“It’s really peculiar and it should be checked out.”

A Mangrove Bay Road resident, who also did not want to be named, said the noise reminded him of a sonic boom.

“I thought something had fallen in the cellar immediately below me as I was sitting in the living room reading,” he said.

“It was a huge jolt in a split second and it shook for maybe one or two seconds.”

When he went outside, he noticed that putty had been dislodged from his French doors.

Sherman Burchall, of Cedarcraft Lane, said he also heard the noise but did not feel a tremor.

“I heard it and so did my granddaughter and son. We all came out at the same time wondering what it was. It was loud enough to get your attention.”

But Mr Hayward said they assumed it was thunder and left it at that.

Charlita Hayward, of Sound View Road, said she heard a loud noise at about 3am or 4am but did not hear the “explosion” earlier on.

“It sounded like a scrambler that had backfired. It was like a loud explosion again.”

She checked to make sure her children were all right and that nothing had happened in the house but found nothing out of the ordinary.

According to fire service spokesman Sergeant Jamal Albuoy, the BFRS responded to a report of a loud sound resembling that of an explosion near the Watford Bridge area at 9.58pm.

But he said “no smoke or fire was discovered”.

“At 10.37pm, a subsequent call to our dispatch reported a strong smell of gas around the Morgan’s Point area,” he added.

“An investigation was conducted of the Morgan’s Point area; however, nothing was discovered and our appliance has returned back to the station.”

Craig Christensen, the chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan’s Point Ltd, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that the whole area had been checked “but nothing happened here”.

“I don’t know where or what that came from,” he added.

Meanwhile, a resident of Gatehouse Lane said she heard and smelt nothing out of the ordinary.

“If it had come from Morgan’s Point I would have heard it. Any noise over there, we hear.”

Sergeant Albuoy said yesterday that there were no new developments and that the source of the sound had not been identified.

He added that the smell of the gas had not been determined and “neither can we confirm if the two incidents are related”.

Police officers also searched the areas where the noise was reported, including East Shore Road, Honeysuckle Lane, Beacon Hill Road and Mangrove Bay Road after receiving numerous calls.

According to the Bermuda Weather Service, which received several inquiries, there was no seismic or meteorological activity last night that could have accounted for the disturbance. A spokesman for the airport said: “There was no aircraft activity around the time the noise was heard that could have accounted for the sound in question.”

And a spokesman for the Department of Marine and Ports Services said Harbour Radio had not received any reports and as far as they know, nothing happened at sea.

Robert Godfrey, the operations manager at Rubis Energy which now owns Bermuda Gas, said they are “continuing to follow up on leads and investigate but haven’t come across anything untoward”.

Mr Godfrey added that they had conducted an internal investigation that “had borne no fruit” and “as it stands, we’ve not had any customers call in”.

And a Belco spokeswoman said the utility company knew nothing about it.