TERRIFIED staff and shoppers fled from a County Durham supermarket after a freezer appeared to explode last night.

The drama unfolded in the Tesco score at Delves Lane, Consett, at about 6.30pm, while the store was filled with about 200 shoppers.

The building was evacuated and the store closed after the incident, which left one woman injured.

The explosion was caused when a ceiling pipe leading into the freezer section ruptured. Refrigeration gases spilled on to the floor as a result.

An eyewitness said: "It was really scary, I was terrified. There was this horrendous noise, it was really loud, then smoke started coming down one of the aisles and it looked like gas was coming out.

"I didn't see it, but one of the staff told me that one woman was flung across the shop."

A spokesman for the store said: "This is something that has never happened before to my knowledge."

Shoppers and staff gathered in the store car park while the fire brigade ventilated the building and engineers worked to repair the ruptured pipe.

A fire brigade spokeswoman confirmed that a woman had been slightly injured during the explosion and taken to Shotley Bridge Hospital.