Explosion devastates homes

A gas explosion last Sunday evening, in Santa Bárbara de Nexe, left a 60-year-old woman in hospital and two brothers homeless when their home was completely destroyed in the blast. The explosion occurred at 6pm in the kitchen of a take-away establishment run by a British man whose premises were also destroyed. Indications are that a faulty gas bottle was the cause of the accident. The blast caused injuries to 60-year-old Madalena André, who is now being treated in a Lisbon hospital, but is understood to be out of danger. The two brothers, who saw their home destroyed in an instant, have been named as Simplício Pires, 47, and Horácio Luís, 44. Picture: Luís Forra/Lusa