FIREFIGHTERS said a couple were fortunate to escape with their lives after a gas explosion left their home in ruins.

The blast hurled 30-year-old mother-of-three Marie Johnson through the ground floor front window and into the garden of her home in Eamont Road, on the Norton Grange housing estate at Norton, near Stockton, Teesside.

Emergency services arrived to find her partner, 30-year-old Jason Bell, wandering around the house dazed, but unhurt, after the Friday night blaze.

What remained of their semi-detached home will be pulled down this weekend. The future of the house next door, which was badly damaged in the blast, is uncertain.

Other houses in the neighbourhood were damaged by flying masonry and glass.

Station Officer Alan Powles, of Cleveland Fire Brigade, said: "I cannot believe they came out of there unscathed. I have seen only two explosions like this in 25 years.

"The woman was blown clean through the window.''

Luckily, the couple's three children were sleeping at their grandparents' home when the explosion occurred, triggered when Marie went to light a gas fire which is thought to have had a leak.

The back wall of the house was completely blown away.

Twenty firefighters were called to the scene but crews sent into what remained of the house were immediately recalled for their own safety.

Firefighters said they detected gas on their arrival.

Mr Powles said: "The gable end started to shift and a great crack appeared: I had to pull the teams out - it was far, far too dangerous. We had responded to what was initially thought to be a house fire but, when we turned into the road, the first thing that hit me was the amount of rubble strewn across the road."

A spokeswoman for Transco said the dangerous condition of the house and subsequent demolition mad meant they had been unable to complete their investigations to establish the cause of the explosion.''

Jason and Marie had returned home late after a night out. The couple were discharged from hospital at the weekend and are understood to be staying with relatives in the area