Police say smoking in the toilets is the cause of the explosion in downtown Tauranga on Tuesday afternoon.
Police Inspector Karl Wright St Clair says the explosion was a result of a cleaning products fire sparked by a staff member smoking.

Police enquiries have found smoking in the toilets is to blame for an explosion at Travelcom that blew a toilet door off its hinges on Tuesday in downtown Tauranga.

The explosion occurred in the single toilet block of the Travelcom travel agency in Devonport Road at about 2.45pm.
Karl says the small toilet building is also used to store cleaning products and it appears that a fire has started accidentally as a result of one of the staff smoking there. The fire has then ignited some flammable cleaning products which have cause the explosion.
Earlier considerations of foul play were believed to be the case owing to the significant size of the explosion, described by one worker there as 'sounding like a car smashing against a wall'.

Read more witness accounts here.