This pregnant woman and her unborn baby have died 24 hours after a massive gas explosion tore through their home.

Gabriela Carena, aged 36, was two and a half months pregnant when the explosion ripped through her home in the Argentine city of Cordoba on 24th May.

Photos show the extensive damage caused to the house by the blast, which took place just days after a gas man had done some work on her kitchen and boiler.

Gabriela was taken to hospital in a critical condition and spent the night in agony before finally succumbing to her injuries the following day.

Her widower, Javier Ordonez, had a lucky escape when he stepped outside to talk on the phone in search of a better signal when the explosion happened.

Just metres separated him from his wife, yet he was unscathed by the blast. Following his wife’s admission to hospital, he took to social media to pray for her recovery.

He wrote on Facebook: “I ask you to please pray for the health of the light of my eyes, the love of my life, the person with whom I promised I would grow old.

“Do not stop praying because she needs that warmth to leave this bad moment.”

Gabriela was a teacher, and her students paid tribute to her in an emotional post on Facebook in which they wrote: “Today heaven receives one more little angel.

“It’s hard to believe that until just a week ago you came with your little fur boots and straight hair to give us classes, those classes where you taught us that every day we can excel ourselves a little more.”

“We started our secondary-school journey with you and we met again this year to finish it with you.

“But it seems that God had other plans and now it seems that mathematics will miss your good-mornings and our mailboxes will no longer receive your ‘Love, Miss Gabi’s. Fly high as you always taught us. Your sixth-form students.”

At the time of reporting, the gas engineer was under investigation but is currently not arrested.