A THOROUGH investigation is under way into the exact cause of the enormous gas explosion which destroyed a row of flats in the St Stephen's area of Canterbury on Monday night.

People ran out of their homes into Tenterden Drive as houses shook and windows shattered. The site is being preserved as a potential scene of crime.

Police are waiting to question Paul Avery, 30, tenant of flat 43b where the explosion originated, and the only person still in hospital.

He is in a critical but stable condition at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, suffering from up to 70 per cent burns, according to Kent Ambulance NHS Trust.

He is under sedation but the police hope to interview him about the incident in a few days time.

Questions remain over whether Mr Avery was aware Transco engineer Mark Tarbuck was trying to gain entry to his flat just before the explosion.

Neighbours said Mr Avery would sit outside from early in the morning until evening and said he could hear voices. Kent County Council's Social Services department and East Kent Community NHS Trust declined to comment on whether he was the subject of a care in the community package.

Ten households have not been able to return to their homes. The four council-owned flats at the centre of the blast will have to be demolished and the residents found alternative permanent places to live

Until further investigations the future of the privately owned number 45 also remains in doubt. Five other properties are still being assessed.

Altogether 19 households were made homeless by the explosion, but nine of them have already been allowed to return.

Of those still homeless 10 remain in hotel accommodation while the rest have made their own arrangements to stay with family and friends.

* Full details and interviews in Thursday's Kentish Gazatte