A FATHER has told how he thought he was going to die after his house collapsed while he was inside with his four-year-old daughter.

Jay Sabanal described how he flew through the air and was covered in debris in the explosion at his Southampton home to the Daily Echo.

Finding he could not breathe and trapped, unable to help his daughter, Jay said until help arrived he had believed this was it for him.

But amazingly Jay, 36, and daughter Bella were pulled from the rubble of their house in Howards Grove, Shirley, by residents on Tuesday with only minor injuries in what was described as a “miraculous” escape.

Speaking of what happened, which brings wife Liberty to tears, Jay told how had gone to bed around 1am having checked appliances were off as he normally would and went to sleep.

With Liberty working nights Bella was in the couple's bed with Jay.

“I heard a loud bang and when I opened my eyes it was completely dark and I was falling down,” said the 36-year-old health care support worker at Southampton General Hospital.

“It was like sinking down, like falling from the sky and I thought it was just a dream.

“Maybe we were thrown out in the air and thrown down.

“Then I heard Bella shouting next to me, I couldn't see her because of all the rubble.

“She was saying 'can you help, can you help' and she was really frightened.”

Jay found his legs were pinned down and arms tied up.

“Something plastic was on top of my face and I couldn't breathe properly,” he said.

“I was thinking this is it for me because I couldn't move at all.

“Then I heard the man coming, shouting so I said 'no we're going to be saved because someone's here'.

“I kept shouting 'can you help my daughter'.

“It was like this was just happening in a movie or something but it literally happened to me.”

Bella said: “The bricks fell on my head and it made me just fall over on the bricks and it just covered me. I was scared, I was crying. I said 'help'.

“Somebody picked me up in the rubble and our house was all rubble.

“Our Christmas tree was broken.”

The family, who are currently staying in temporary accommodation in Southampton, had bought a special Disney's Frozen-inspired white tree three days before.

Luckily Bella suffered only minor injuries and Jay only has cuts and bruises and some pain in his back.

Jay told how he had just an hour before the explosion been working on the downstairs computer and the family do not know if he would have survived if he had stayed there.

The family also use two mattresses on their bed and think that may have helped save them.

“I was scared by what happened and it's really tragic for us - I don't know how we survived that,” said Jay.

“I told my friends that this is my second life, I'm happy to be here.”

Liberty, 36, a nurse, said of those that came to help: “We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Jay added: “They saved our lives, they saved our family.”

The family, who moved to Southampton from the Philippines in 2003 and to Shirley in 2005, have virtually no possessions except their car.

“It's so sad, we don't know where to start,” said Jay.

But the family said it had been overwhelmed by the public response to their plight and thanked everyone who had donated.

The family said they had been approached by residents who recognised them and sympathised, one even giving Bella £10, which she spent on a toy.

SOME residents evacuated after the explosion have been allowed back to their homes as investigators continue their efforts to find the cause.

Southern Gas Networks, which is carrying out the investigation into the explosion and collapse of a home in Shirley alongside the Health and Safety Executive, confirmed three of the four families forced to leave their homes in Howards Grove had been able to move back in.

A spokeswoman for Southern Gas Networks, said five engineers were on site yesterday continuing to check “every aspect” of what happened at the property.

She was unable to tell the Daily Echo how long this was likely to last.“We need to conduct our investigation carefully, and this will take time, however we will be doing our very best to establish the facts as quickly as we can,” she said.

“Before we can do this, it is unfair on everyone involved to speculate on what happened.”