Boy of two fighting for his life after being rescued from fire

A TWO-YEAR-old Nicosia boy is in a critical condition after being rescued by fire fighters from his blazing home in Lakatamia yesterday morning.

The little boy, who was fast asleep in his bedroom on Paphos Street in Lakatamia, ingested a lot of fumes and suffered acute respiratory failure, which effectively caused his heart to stop.

Neighbours called the fire services after they were alerted to the fire by the mother’s cries for help at around 11am.

When the fire services arrived on the scene, the frantic woman told them that her little boy was still trapped inside the house.

Two firemen battled the flames to save the little boy, who was unconscious when they brought him out. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene immediately and the child was administered oxygen and given chest compressions until his transportation to hospital.

Accident and Emergency head Dr Costas Antoniades said doctors had done everything they could to save the two-year-old. He was finally put on a ventilator and transported to Makarios Hospital, where he was placed in the paediatric intensive care unit. His condition is extremely serious and doctors could not yesterday say whether he had suffered any brain damage.

“Sometimes at this age children show a lot of resistance and so avoid brain damage,” Antoniades said.

He added that doctors had done everything possible for the child and that there was no point in transferring him abroad for treatment.

Preliminary investigations suggest the fire started from a short circuit caused by the television, which was on standby. The fire department has issued repeated warnings in the past that all electrical devices should be switched off from the main electrical socket so as to avoid accidental fire outbreaks.

The blaze started in the living room and quickly spread to most of the house. Extensive damage was caused to the little boy’s room from the smoke.

The firemen who walked into the flames to save the boy were also taken to hospital where they received first aid and were released, reports said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.