AN HEROIC son has told of the dramatic moments he sprinted to the aid of his dad and a colleague who were engulfed in flames when a gas blast rocked an industrial unit.

John Webster (52) and Billy Moore (56) suffered flash burns during the explosion that sparked a fireball at North West Gases on Peasley Cross industrial estate.

This week it emerged how rescuers helped the pair, whose clothes melted in the heat of the blast that is believed to have happened as a liquid petroleum gas cannister was being re-valved.

Twenty-five-year-old Martin Webster described how after hearing an "almighty boom" he dashed 50 metres to the firm's filling shed where he saw his dad, John, crawling along the floor and flames coming from the body of his colleague.

Martin, an autogas technician at the family-run business, said: "I was in the workshop and ran outside to see smoke going up in the air. I raced down there and my dad was crawling on the floor coming out of the doorway.

"His clothes had burned off him, his face was burned white and his hair was singed. Mally (Mal Shaw, a 21-year-old employee), had been stood outside the shed when the blast went off and I could see his hair was singed too.

"I looked into the filling shed and in there was Billy amid the fire. I told Mally to get a bucket and water to help my dad and I knew I had to get inside to help Billy.

"There was black smoke and I could not see properly but I just went steaming in. By the time I got to him, there was still flames coming from his body and I just rolled him around on the ground to try and put them out."

Martin, from Parr, and colleague 24-year-old Danny Leyland, from Haydock, then used about eight fire extinguishers to put out flames inside the industrial unit.

Laura Johnson (28), another member of the North West Gases team, helped give first aid to the burns victims before emergency crews arrived.

Father-of-two John, the co-owner of the business from Parr, and Billy, from Laffak,both spent four nights at Whiston Hospital's specialist burns unit following the incident during the morning on Thursday, April 10. They have been allowed to go home, but are continuing to undergo treatment.

Asked what was going through his mind in the moments after the blast, Martin added: "I was just thinking my dad has been burned and my mate is burning. Who do I help first?'. (But) all the safety processes we had in place just came together and we all mucked into to help them.

"That is what saved their lives because there could easily have been two or three dead blokes in there."

He added that the firm had been in business for 30 years and has an examplary safety record. The cause of the blast is now subject to an investigation.