I was at the scene of the gas explosion in Shrewsbury right as it was unfolding. I was parking up with my girlfriend Helen Palin, approximately 10 minutes before the explosion happened, writes Anthony Archambault.

We had just sat down and ordered our breakfast when all of a sudden we heard this really loud rumbling sound, which seemed to ripple through the building.

My initial thoughts was that it was an earthquake of some sort, but the rumbling seemed to carry on and on. It seemed like minutes but in reality probably only seconds had passed.

Everyone immediately shot up from their seats. People were shouting ‘what was that?’ We were sat in the booth area quite near to the bar with a good front view of the outside to the Welsh Bridge area and theatre.

All of a sudden there was a tremendous smashing sound, everyone screamed out and there were shouts from the remaining customers.

Thinking, ‘Could it be a bomb?’, we didn’t know if the building was going to collapse on to us, or if we should stay or exit the building. It was sheer immediate panic. My fight or flight system was in full flow, adrenalin pumping through my veins.

I noticed one of the front windows was completely smashed, I heard one of the bar staff say ‘call an ambulance’, and someone shouted out. My heart immediately sank. I rushed forward to see if I could see anyone who needed assistance, but the bar staff ushered us all back towards the fire exit and out of the building.

I tried to remain calm, and we exited the Shrewsbury Hotel into the back alley. There was glass and debris everywhere, and I was aware my legs were trembling.

As we approached the bottom of Mardol, there was a large group of people all looking in shock and disbelief, a woman was on the top floor of a Mardol shop crying behind a completely smashed pain of glass.

I walked around to the front of the Shrewsbury Hotel for a better look. Two policemen were rushing into a collapsed building with smoke billowing out of it, and all of a sudden a huge fireball billowed out of the building with intense fierceness.

I suddenly focused in on what was happening on the ground. Some young people were walking towards me with debris in their hair, and blood dripping from their faces, in total shock.

The loud wail of sirens and car alarms was now apparent, providing an eerie soundtrack to what was unfolding.

I glanced towards where I had parked my car just moments ago. There was an older man being attended to by the paramedics. He was covered in small amount of rubble.

It felt like a surreal action movie was unfolding right before my eyes. Some of the younger people with debris in their hair were being attended to by the paramedics; some were shouting for their friends to call their friends and relatives on their mobile phones, some were crying. All were in total shock.

As I glanced back towards the car park it was clear all the cars, including my own, had had all their windows blown out, and the chairs outside the hotel and an umbrella were completely destroyed due to the damage from the flying debris.

I remember the loud sirens wailing, and the crying of the walking wounded. As I looked around Mardol again I couldn’t believe the amount of damage to windows and shop fronts. People were still wondering what had happened.

My heart goes out to the victims of this blast, but also I am thankful that I had not been in my vehicle just moments later.