KEY POINTS:
An explosion that ripped through a Howick restaurant, hurling chairs and debris through the front windows is being treated as potentially suspicious.
Fire safety officer Ray Coleman said fire fighters were this afternoon investigating the cause of the explosion at Cafe Hasan Baba.
"We haven't come to any great conclusions, it's a long and convoluted exercise," Mr Coleman said.
The explosion sent chairs and debris through the front windows and woke hundreds of people just after 3am yesterday.
Police said a passing pedestrian was approximately 5 metres from the Cook St premises when the explosion occurred.
He was checked at the scene by ambulance staff but was not injured, and it was not thought anyone else was hurt.
Mr Coleman earlier told the Herald he was not sure what had caused the explosion but confirmed the restaurant was supplied by gas, which could have been a factor.
Whether the incident was accidental or a possible arson was also yet to be established, he said.
"We are sifting through the debris. Given the extent of damage and amount of glass, we will be examining it square inch by square inch."
Many residents living within 1km of the restaurant said they were woken by a huge bang that shook their homes.
Closest to the restaurant were Shirlaine and Craig McArthur, who lived overlooking the Middle Eastern eatery in one of 19 apartments in the Monterey complex, which fronts on to Cook St.
Mr McArthur said: "The whole building shook like an earthquake ... there was a guy shouting outside."
Mr McArthur said the roof of the kitchen at the back of the restaurant had blown straight up from a horizontal to a vertical position.
He had been told a man was seen running from the scene down a path below next to the apartments and someone claimed there was a smell of petrol.
Mrs McArthur said she had run outside to see the building, which included a dental surgery premises upstairs, engulfed in flames.
They woke others in the apartments and some residents ran out of their homes in their nightwear.
Shattered glass from the explosion was sprayed across the main road and throughout the section of the cemetery in front of the All Saints Anglican Church.
Down the valley in Beach Rd, resident Nikki Roy said the bang woke her and the whole house shook.
The shock wave appeared to set off many house and car alarms.
"We thought it might have been from a P-lab."
Her brother Mike King, who lives about 500 metres away in Uxbridge Rd, said the noise sounded like a bird flying into a window but on a much bigger scale.
"I thought maybe someone was trying to break into the house ... It was a huge blast, more movement than noise, the whole house shuddered."
Philip Smith, who lived further away, said he was woken by the explosion and could see smoke on the horizon. "I thought it was space debris hitting the house."
Viewing the damage to the restaurant, he said it would have been catastrophic if the timing had been different as it was a popular eatery and often full.
The restaurant is thought to have been operating in the village for at least 15 years.
A man the Herald understands was the owner did not want to talk about what had happened.
Looking upset, he was comforted by a friend who patted him on his shoulder as he walked around the edge of the police cordon that blocked off the street from traffic.
The street, which looked like a bomb site, drew a large crowd of locals who came out to inspect the damage on what would otherwise have been a quiet Sunday morning.
