Investigators focus on electrical fire in flat where woman died

Toxicology tests are expected to shed light on the cause of death of 37-year-old Natasha Sarah Gadd, who was found dead in her apartment in Paralimni on Tuesday evening, police said.

Tissue was taken for lab tests during the post mortem on Wednesday morning, police said, which will indicate the exact cause of death of the 37-year-old woman that appears to be linked to an electrical fire.

Gadd was found dead after her friends notified the authorities at approximately 6pm after they had not heard from her all day. The fire service and police arrived on the scene, where there was a smell of smoke.

Firefighters broke the woman’s apartment door down and discovered the British expat dead in the bathroom.

Police said that the walls appeared to have been blackened by fire. State pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous who examined the scene ruled out foul play, police said. There were no external injuries on Gadd’s body.

The spokesman of the fire service, Andreas Kettis told the Cyprus News Agency that the source of the smoke was an electric cooker on which other electric appliances had been placed.

He added that it appears that one of the electric rings had been switched on, thus burning the other electric appliances that were on the hob, while the blaze spread onto the extractor hood and other plastic items, causing a dense black smoke that filled the apartment.

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