A man was killed when his house “disappeared” in a huge explosion after a neighbour noticed a strong smell of gas, an inquest jury has heard.

The explosion was so devastating that the first rescuers did not even realise a house had stood on the spot until a few minutes before, the inquest at Swansea Guildhall was told.

Brian Lyn Davies, a 68-year-old builder, died in the explosion at the rented one-bedroom terrace house on Clydach Road in Morriston, Swansea.

Claire Bennett, who lived next door, said she was “relaxing” on her sofa and her son was upstairs when the explosion happened on 13 March 2023.

She said: “There was a massive bang. Initially, I thought a car had hit the house. Everything went dark for a couple of seconds, I’m not sure if I passed out.

“I came back to, and it was dark and the room was full of debris. The ceilings and walls and floors had fallen on me. From my neck down I couldn’t move. I was trying to call out my son’s name but I couldn’t catch my breath. I was trying to call him to come and help me. I didn’t realise there was no staircase.

“I remember a gentleman’s voice saying to me: ‘It’s OK, I’m here, I’ve got you.’ He was pulling loads of stuff off me to get me from the sofa. I was taken out of the house.

“I was in hospital for a week. I couldn’t retain information. The brain injury team at Morriston hospital [in Swansea] took me under their wing.” Bennett said she and her son had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

She said: “For a year and a half, from the minute I opened my eyes until I closed them at night I thought I was going to die that day. Things were triggering us, like dark and noises.”

Bennett talked the inquest through pictures of the devastation. She said: “Instantly, Brian’s house disappeared. They didn’t even know there was an end house when I first came out. I explained there was an end house and if the white van is there, then Brian’s there.”

The witness told the inquest she had smelled gas for a fortnight before the explosion, which she attributed to maintenance work being carried out at a nearby house. “I could smell gas really strongly in the road,” she said.

Jurors also saw extraordinary footage of the explosion happening, taken from a CCTV camera. A post van was passing the house as it exploded and could be seen being enveloped in what looked like smoke and debris.

The house Davies lived in was owned by a private landlord and rented out through a management company.

In a statement, Davies’s son, Ricky Lyn Davies, said his father had been an active and healthy man who was in good spirits at the time of his death. He had three grandchildren, enjoyed his holidays and kept his home and his work van spotless.

Wales & West Utilities, which maintains the gas network across Wales and the south-west of England, is represented in court.

The inquest continues.