Vehicle explosion devastates family

A mother and her family are ‘‘shattered’’ by the death of her son whose body has been found inside an exploded car in Queenstown.

Christchurch man Kurt Sturgess’s station wagon exploded with one person inside in Jardine Park about 9pm on Tuesday.

Police confirmed the person was dead. It was not yet known if he was dead before the explosion.

Sturgess’ mother said the news was ‘‘a bolt out of the blue’’.

‘‘His wife is pretty cut up of course and his little son is asking where ‘Dada’ is,’’ she said. ‘‘His father and myself are pretty shattered.’’

On Tuesday night, a missing-person notice for Sturgess had been posted on Facebook.

‘‘He was in his work vehicle … a late nineties silver Nissan Primera station wagon with a ladder on top,’’ the post said.

‘‘[He] was expected home early afternoon, but never showed up.’’

Sturgess’ mother said the family had ‘‘no idea’’ what he was doing in Queenstown.

‘‘We just simply don’t know what happened.’’

An autopsy and scene examinations were expected to take place yesterday.

Lindsay Shaw, whose house looked out onto the park, told Radio New Zealand her ‘‘whole house shook’’.

‘‘It was just a horrendous explosion … we could see that there was a vehicle engulfed in flames, like it was instant.’’

On Tuesday night, police were considering searching vehicles for ‘‘an individual’’, a witness said, and sniffer dogs were used to search the area.

Otago Lakes police area commander Inspector Olaf Jensen said he could not speculate on how the blaze may have started while the scene examination was ongoing.

A fire investigator would visit the park on Wednesday, a Fire Service spokeswoman said.