AN elderly woman died and her husband was seriously injured when their home was ripped apart by a gas blast as they made a breakfast time cup of tea.

The explosion left a scene of devastation, with masonry crashing down across a 300-yard radius.

Moira Cairns, 80, died and husband Joe, 63, suffered serious injuries in the incident at 7.30am yesterday in North Shields, North Tyneside.

Four neighbours needed hospital treatment but were later released.

Bricks, tiles and roof supports rained down on commuters making their way to work.

One witness described how she saw the tiles on a neighbour's roof lift into the air.

Cars parked three streets away were damaged by falling masonry as the three-bedroom mid- terraced house in Grey Street, was left a smouldering ruin.

Mrs Cairns' daughter, Debra Marouli, 40, said: "Apparently, Joe went to put on the kettle and the whole house blew up.

"My mother was in bed at the time. The house had just been reduced to rubble.

"Joe has been taken to hospital with cuts and bruises."

Emergency services later recovered the body of Mrs Cairns, while Mr Cairns was taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary in a serious condition suffering burns and smoke inhalation.

Neighbour Sheila Ibister, 53, a sewing machinist, said: "I left the house at 7.30am to go to work.

"I got around the corner at the end of the street and had walked past the Coburg pub when I heard a bang. I thought the world had come to an end. It was that loud.

"I looked up and it was like slow motion, everything was coming over the top of the roofs.

"There was bricks, lumps of wood, roofing insulation, all raining down from the sky.

"I panicked. I didn't know what to do, so I turned and ran away from it, but it all started landing on the road beside me, glass and pieces of brick.

"I felt something hit me in the back, so I hid behind a car in the forecourt of a garage. The cars were ruined, they were being hammered by falling masonry.

"Once things had stopped falling all round me, I picked myself up and walked round to see what had happened.

"One of the houses in Grey Street was completely gone, it was just blown to smithereens.

"People were walking out on to the street in their dressing gowns, sticking their heads out of windows to see what had happened."

Nine fire engines from Hebburn, Tynemouth, Gateshead, Fossway and Gosforth were at the scene.

A Northern Gas Network spokeswoman said it could not get immediate access to the house.