Elderly couple hospitalised after gas explosion (Updated)

An elderly man is in the intensive care unit of Nicosia hospital with burns to 70 per cent of his body after a gas explosion which destroyed an apartment where he lived with his wife in Larnaca on Tuesday evening.

The man, 88, suffered first, second and third-degree burns and he was transferred to Nicosia hospital while his wife was taken to Larnaca hospital with respiratory problems.

According to police, the explosion occurred at 9.15pm at the couple’s Larnaca ground floor apartment.

Police officers and firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire by 10.08pm but it destroyed the flat.

The six-floor building had to be temporarily evacuated until the fire was put out.

Police believe the cause of the explosion was a gas leak but more tests will follow to determine the exact cause.

 

 

 

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