Cafe explosion survivor talks of 'hellish' blast

A man who survived a gas explosion in a Queensland café earlier this week has told of the "hellish" scene in which people were screaming with their faces burnt beyond recognition.

Ken Tobler, 69, was ordering his usual fish and chips for lunch on Tuesday when an out-of-control car slammed into the Serves You Right café in Ravenshoe, hitting a gas bottle which triggered the explosion.

"People were on fire, I was on fire, it was horrific, those facing the explosion got hit with flames full in their face and mouth. It’s a miracle anyone survived," Mr Tobler told The Courier Mail.

"Everything was burnt black. It was hellish."

Mr Tobler suffered burns to more than 30 percent of his body and lost all his hair in the blast.

He is recovering in a specialist burns unit in Brisbane.

He said he was one of the lucky ones.

"My head has swollen up like a toad fish, and I’ve got to get at least three skin grafts to the back and hand," he said.

"It’ll be a long recovery, but you’ve got to stay upbeat. I’ll just go with the flow, all the medical staff have been amazing.

"Think of the others who have 80 per cent burns. I don’t know how any of us got out alive. I thought I was dead."

The Ravenshoe cafe explosion is Queensland’s largest mass burns disaster with 20 casualties – eight of them critical – in hospitals across Queensland.

Seven patients are in induced comas, while the ages of the injured range from a 15-year-old girl to a 75-year-old woman.