Cigarette causes caravan explosion

A careless Australian smoker is recovering in hospital after her caravan exploded.

The woman was alone in the caravan at the time, and other residents were not affected by the blast.

Apparently the woman had turned on the jets to her bottled gas stove without igniting them, and so when she tried to light her cigarette, the roof was lifted, and the walls collapsed. The explosion did not start a fire.

Peter Connolly, the proprietor of the caravan park, said: "She appears to have been in the habit of lighting cigarettes off the stove.

"We've spent thousands upgrading the whole fire system and trying to tell people how to handle bottled gas safely."

Accident investigators found that both gas taps were in the 'full on' position.

16/11/2007 14:40:59