Gas explosion destroys south Sydney shop

A south Sydney take-away shop has been destroyed after a gas explosion caused a blaze which took hours to control.

Firefighters were called to the Arncliffe shop before 2am on Thursday morning and attempted to control the flames, but were thwarted by gas and debris.

Once the gas main had been turned off they were able to control the blaze which caused smoke damage to an adjacent shop and flung debris into the street.

Police will investigate the fire.