At least six people have been injured and dozens of residences evacuated following a gas explosion which destroyed a home in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Footage showed the home was reduced to a burning pile of wood and rubble.

The blast, which was felt for miles (kilometres) around, also damaged neighbouring homes.

Health authorities said six people were taken to Christchurch Hospital, but their conditions were not known.

Authorities said they are still investigating the explosion’s cause.

Neighbour Brad Culver told Television New Zealand he thought at first a plane had crashed and ran outside.

Mr Culver said: “The house was in a complete pile of timber and rubbish, you couldn’t even conceive that it was a house. There was nothing left standing.”

Mr Culver said he started pulling people out of the rubble.

“They all appeared to be okay, they were in shock but had superficial cuts, bruises, that sort of thing.

“It didn’t look like any life-threatening injuries. Miracle, really a miracle.”

Another neighbour, Ann Gray, said she thought the city had been hit by an earthquake.

Christchurch frequently experiences earthquakes, with a magnitude6-2 quake destroying large parts of the city in 2011.