This video shows the massive hole made in the roof by the lid of the pressure cooker after it shot into the air, never to be seen again.

The flying-saucer lid exploded when the pressure cooker was used to cook meat in a kitchen in the city of Luzhou in Sichuan Province in China.

The woman who was cooking at the time, identified only by the surname Wang, had fortunately stepped out of the kitchen for a second when the pot exploded with enormous force, sending the lid flying upwards with such speed that it smashed through the roof and disappeared into the sky.

The woman said that she had gone outside with others and they had checked the roof and all of the surrounding ground, but there was no sign of the lid.

And the video of the gaping hole in the roof went viral when it was shared on social media.

The woman said that her entire family had scoured the area, and it was a complete mystery as to where the lid had gone, with the gaping lid-shaped hole three metres above their heads at least confirming how it had left the kitchen, if not where it gone.

She said: “I was completely shocked when I left the meat that had been simmering slowly for a short while and then heard an explosion, and when I went back, the lid was gone and there was a hole in the roof.”

She said that some debris had even fallen into the kitchen, but not the lid.

Despite the gaping hole, the woman said that she had been determined not to lose out on the meal for the family, so had picked the pieces of meat up, washed them and stuck them back in the pot, and when it started to rain, had put some plastic sheeting over the top of the pot to stop the rain affecting the meal.

She told local reporters that as soon as the rain had stopped, her relatives had repaired the roof, and it was all as good as new, apart from the fact that the pressure cooker now no longer had a lid.