Blast rips through fish and chip shop

An explosion ripped through a Nelson fish and chip shop this morning, leaving the owner badly burned.

The front window and rear wall of the Milton St Fish and Chip Cafe were blown out in the suspected gas blast, which happened about 9.30am, and left debris and glass strewn across the street.

"It was like a nuclear bomb," Miranda Radcliffe, who works nearby, told The Nelson Mail.

She had been filling a freezer in a dairy next door, and when she rushed outside and saw the owner of the fish and chip shop, Ron Clark, walking out of the shop dazed.

He was understood to have suffered extensive facial burns and was taken to Nelson hospital in a serious condition.

Nelson Fire Service station officer Kevin O'Connor said firefighters believed the damage to the fish and chip shop was caused by a gas explosion.

There was also a small amount of fire damage and the explosion had also lifted the fish and chip shop's roof.

- NZPA