Man dies in restaurant blaze

A FILIPINO man died yesterday in a blaze that broke out in a Limassol restaurant shortly after midnight.

Police said they found 45-year-old Hilario Gamid unconscious in the bathroom, apparently from smoke inhalation.

He was rushed to Limassol hospital but to no avail as doctors pronounced him dead.

The man had been living in a room in the Romeo and Juliet restaurant in Moutagiaka, given to him by a foreign friend who worked there.

An immigration official said Gamid had been working legally at a farm in Ypsonas.

Investigators who scanned the scene for clues said they did not suspect foul play.

They believe the fire started in the man’s room, probably from a cigarette butt.

Gamid was found in the bathroom in what fire service think might have been a desperate effort to get out of the burning building.