A CLITHEROE couple cheated death when their their boat exploded just yards from a petrol station on Windermere.

The 65-year-old pensioners had just refuelled their Princess cruiser moored at Waterhead Marine, Ambleside, from the boatyard's filling station, when a blast ripped through the craft.

Allan Turner, of The Crescent, Clitheroe, suffered cuts and bruises in the blast while his wife Barbara suffered a twisted ankle. Both were taken to Westmorland Hospital and later released.

Marine engineer David Lowdon was working on a nearby boat when he heard what he described as a massive explosion.

"As I looked over I could see bits up in the air", said the 48-year-old boatman. Mr Lowdon and marina employee Bob O'Neill assisted in the rescue and shouted to a petrol pump attendant to call an ambulance.

The men found the badly shaken couple aboard while all the cabin windows had been shattered in the blast which had ignited bedding in the boat's bow.

"If you had opened the door and thrown a grenade in it would not have done any more damage," said Mr Lowdon.

Mr Turner managed to climb on to the jetty unaided but his wife had injured her ankle. Speaking at the scene, he said the 1938 Staniland boat was his "pride and joy".

"I thought we will just have to get her off," said Mr Lowdon who decided it was dangerous to wait for paramedics to move the injured woman since there were gas cylinders and petrol on board.

"I just had to pick her up and carry her to shore."

Two minutes after they had left the boat it burst into flames.

Fire crews evacuated bystanders from the lakeshore around Ambleside Youth Hostel and closed a section of the nearby A591.

The road closure caused four-mile tailbacks along the key Lake District route.

Assistant Divisional Officer Tom Donnelly said he was concerned about quickly isolating the fire to ensure it did not spread to other boats in the marina, did not ignite gas canisters on board or reach the nearby Esso petrol station.

He added that the boat fire was the worst he had known on Windermere.

"I was probably 30 feet away and you could feel the intense heat," said lake warden Martin Dodgson. "The flames were probably 20 foot high and there were plumes of black smoke going straight over the garage."

The fire service is now investigating the cause of the explosion.