EXPLOSION IN GRATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20288, 22 June 1929, Page 12

EXPLOSION IN GRATE.

BLINDING FLASH OF FLAME.

ELDERLY COUPLE INJURED.

ROOM CONTENTS WRECKED.

IRON EMBEDDED IN WALL.

[by telegraph.—press association.] CHKISTCHURCH, Friday. Two elderly people, Mr. J. Gallagher and his wife, were badly hurt this evening when the fireplace in front of which they were sitting blew up with a terrific detonation. ■ t A blinding sheet of flame leapt out and debris of steel and bricks flew in all directions. The windows were blown out and everything breakable in the room was destroyed. The iron bars of the grate were blown in all directions, and one was deeply embedded in the opposite wall. > The explosion occurred after Mr. Gallagher had put a shoveful of coal on the fire. Almost instantaneously the explosion rocked the house. Mrs. Gallagher was thrown backward in her chair, and Mr. Gallagher, on the other side of the hearth, was also thrown down, being partially buried by bricks from the wrecked chimney. The family cat, a large Persian, which was lying on the hearth, was killed by a sharp piece of steel penetrating its brain. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher were sent to hospital suffering from burns. Their condition is not serious. The cause of the accident was probably explosive in the coal, which was drawn from a supply that had been in use for some time.