A PUB landlady and a friend miraculously escaped injury when a gas blast blew out the front of a bar seconds after they fled the premises yesterday.

Firefighters were called to a blaze at Colliery Tavern pub, in Keir Hardie Way, Southwick, Sunderland, after a blaze broke out in the kitchen at lunchtime.

But although they arrived within minutes of the call, an explosion had blown out several windows and a small wall - and the force of the blast extinguished the blaze.

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Sub Officer Mick Snaith said the fire had started in the kitchen after a hotplate was inadvertently turned on. A cardboard box and aerosol can had been left on the stove.

He said: "The slow build up of heat released gas from Formica in the kitchen. An aerosol can left on the stove exploded, in turn igniting the combustible gases which had built up at the ceiling."

Mr Snaith said the blast blew out six windows and a "dwarf" wall. The landlady and her friend had managed to get out of the premises seconds before the explosion.

The pub, the nearest to the Stadium of Light, was boarded up following the fire.