AN EXPLOSION which killed a boat owner and rocked Northwich town was originally treated as a terrorist attack.

Pensioner Michael Aldcroft, 68, was killed after his houseboat moored at Jalsea Marina blew up in May this year but coroner for Cheshire Nicholas Rheinberg concluded at Crewe Municipal Buildings on Friday the retired merchant navy seaman's death was accidental.

It was about 3.30pm on Thursday, May 4 when eyewitness Michael Downing spotted a fireball from vessel, The Bill Antrobus.

He said: "I was walking my dog on the River Weaver Navigation. It was very quiet. At the top of my vision was a flash and almost at the same time I heard an explosion.

"There was a large ball of flame and I saw a large amount of debris rise and land."

Marina owner Jeremy Tyrell was one of the first on the scene but he could not find the victim, who he described as a loner who kept himself to himself. He said: "I heard an explosion. Items fell off the wall in the office.

"I rushed outside and could see debris near The Bill Antrobus. The superstructure was completely missing. I could smell propane gas."

Mr Aldcroft was found alive but died from cardiac failure at the specialist burns unit at Nottingham City Hospital the following day. He suffered 50 per cent burns and a traumatic head injury.

Fire station manager Ben Bellis, who conducted the investigation, said there were fears the explosion was deliberate, adding: "The county police were there and we were treating it as a possible terrorist attack as it was an explosion."

This was ruled out but officer Bellis said the cause of blast is unknown although suspicions about a gas cylinder hose have been raised. Insecure connections in the wheelhouse, exposed wiring, and the victim smoking were also highlighted.

BOC gases sales manager Robert Meredith said a damaged boat hose was an accident waiting to happen' as it was insecurely connected, was discoloured due to sun exposure, and was cut. He said propane would have been leaking for some time.

The coroner praised the heroics of firemen and concluded the death of the Manchester-born man was an accident.

He said: "A gas cooker recovered from the water has been subject of investigation. It is likely with the area of damage to the hose or around the jubilee clips gas would have escaped and this has allowed propane gas to collect and rise upwards.

"It would have taken just a spark."