Gas fireball costs pair everything
Couple burned in explosion face long fight to get back on their feet
An Auckland man burned over most of his body when his New Windsor flat exploded in a fireball is able to talk and has started to walk again.
The small home Biju Jose shared with his wife, Geena Dominic, burst into flames after a gas leak on Tuesday last week. The explosion rocked the neighbourhood and destroyed everything the couple owned.
A friend of the couple, Salesh Lal, told the Herald Dominic had been discharged from Middlemore Hospital but remained at her husband’s side.
“Biju got facial injuries and the whole of his body got burned, so he’s lost quite a lot of skin. He’s still in hospital.
“He’s started walking but the whole of his body, except for his chest, has burns.”
Dominic was staying with her husband in his room.
“She burned the whole of her left arm. She can’t return to work for maybe four weeks.”
However, Jose’s recovery is expected to take many months.
The pair were struggling to deal with what had happened, Lal said. They didn’t have any family in New Zealand but had been supported by their employers and friends.
Lal said Jose worked as an engineer while Dominic worked with his own wife as a lab assistant.
On July 4, Jose woke about 4am to the smell of gas but couldn’t find anything so went back to bed. However, by the time they woke for work about 6am, the whole flat — which was a sleepout — had filled with gas. One of the pair turned a light on and it exploded, turning their small home into a giant fireball with a blast that rocked the sleeping suburb.
The roof fell on the pair but they somehow managed to escape with their lives.
The accommodation was managed through an Auckland rental agency as the owner lives overseas, Lal said Jose had asked the agency to fix their oven on several occasions before the explosion, but it never happened.
The couple now had to come to grips with the fact they’d lost everything. Lal has set up a Givealittle page to help them get back on their feet.