A gas explosion has left 15 people injured - two critically - and levelled a house after a mains leak near Atlantic City.

Footage showed the moment of the blast as debris from the property in Stafford Township was thrown into the air on Tuesday.

Seven of the injured were gas company workers trying to locate a leak that had triggered a strong gas smell in the area.

Two of them are in a critical condition at a hospital in the city.

Six firefighters and two emergency medical personnel also suffered concussion-like symptoms from the shock wave of the blast. Police said no one was in the house at the time of the explosion.

The cause of the blast has not been determined.