As friends and neighbours came to terms with the tragic deaths of long-term Algarve residents Glyn Uzzell and Paul Fonck, police have today (June 24) intimated the explosion that killed them appears to have been caused by a gas leak.
According to Correio da Manhã newspaper, a gas bottle was identified “with indications that there had been a leak”.
The massive explosion which shook a huge area around the town of Lagoa early on Monday morning “would have been caused by the turning on of a light”, wrote CM, adding that half a bottle of gas would have been enough to have caused the damage, which reduced the men’s rural Quinta do Pavão home to rubble.
As investigations continue, the Resident learnt that it is taking time for authorities to contact next-of-kin.
Both men were elderly – Uzzell was 84 and Fonck was 73. A neighbour told us that as far as she was aware, the only way to trace relatives would be through the Will the pair made some years ago.
“They were very quiet, reserved people. They did not socialise very much – and in all the years I have known them, I have hardly met any relatives,” she told us.
Uzzell’s younger sister Wendy visited only recently – and she is thought already to have been contacted.
As to relatives of Fonck, the neighbour was hazy.
“I am still in real shock,” she told us. “These were people I have known since before I came here. They were very special friends. I am on my limits today, believe me.”
The neighbour revealed that she had been asked to identify the bodies of her two long-time friends, but “just could not do that”.
“Shock, shock, shock. It is almost too much to take in,” she added. “I still cannot believe it.”
Shock is exactly the reaction of all who knew abstract painter Uzzell and his language-teacher companion Fonck.
“He was a darling, darling man,” said another long-term friend of Uzzell’s who added that in a way it was “a mercy they both went together. Together in life, united in death”.
The tragedy happened just before 7.45 on Monday morning. Neighbours think Paul Fonck must have taken the pair’s dog Ricky for his morning walk and then gone to make tea.
As CM reported on Tuesday, one body was found in a bedroom, the other in the kitchen.
The two men’s dog, Ricky, was injured in the blaze but taken by neighbours to the vet’s where he was given special treatment.
Luckily his thick coat had saved him from severe burns, and he has already been homed with a neighbour.
Funeral arrangements are on hold for now, until the authorities can contact the two men’s families.
By NATASHA DONN [email protected]
Photo: OPEN MEDIA GROUP
