Investigations are ongoing and an autopsy is scheduled after two men were found dead in their beds on Wednesday in Limassol, with reports informing that a Cypriot barbeque was found in the room.

Limassol CID Chief, Lefteris Kyriakou, said the deaths were reported at 8am. The two third-country nationals could not yet be named, he said.

The men, aged 42 and 28, are of Egyptian origin and were residing in Cyprus illegally.

The family of the 28-year-old has been notified but the 42-year-old has not yet been identified by a relative.

The bodies were found in a building that also houses a company office in a village in West Limassol, Episkopi.

According to the person who located them, there was heavy smoke in the room when he opened the door, Kyriakou said.

An ambulance had immediately been called and the local police station notified.

The two bore no vital signs at the time they were discovered.

The scene was cordoned off and visited by Limassol police department officers and it was evident from investigations that there was a lit charcoal fire.

A fire extinguisher located inside the room had remained in place, the fire service said. Further evidence is to be collected from the scene.

It appears that one of the men had previously been hosted in the premises, while the second person was a friend, and both had slept there.

CyBC earlier reported that investigations were underway to determine whether the men had used the barbeque as a source of heat and had been killed by inhaling carbon dioxide.

The fire service had not been called fire service spokesman Andreas Kettis told the CyBC’s morning radio.
Elsewhere overnight a Nicosia woman suffered minor burns from a gas heater in her room and an elderly woman was taken to the emergency department as a precaution after fire broke out in a residence.

The gas heater fire happened shortly before 10pm in the basement apartment of a Dali residence, inhabited by a domestic helper. Two staffed fire trucks were dispatched, Kettis posted on X, but the fire had been extinguished with water by the owner before they arrived.

The gas cylinder was inspected and transferred to a safe place.

The woman suffered minor burns and she was taken by ambulance to Nicosia general hospital’s A&E
“It appears that the fire was caused by a problem with the operation of the gas heater,” Kettis said, and the heat had caused slight damage to the apartment’s furnishings and to clothing.

The second incident happened around 10.30pm with a fire breaking out in the kitchen-dining room of a fourth floor apartment in Strovolos.

Four fire trucks were dispatched and firemen using breathing apparatus removed the flat’s elderly owner and evacuated all residents from the building, with the aid of the police.

The elderly woman was taken as a precaution to the Nicosia hospital A&E by a relative.

The fire caused extensive damage to kitchen counters and equipment, Kettis reported, while the whole apartment was damaged by the smoke and heat.

Asked to comment on the latest incidents of deaths due to fires and/or fumes and to say how the Ministry of Transport is dealing with them, through the competent services, minister Alexis Vafeadis said that they are currently in a process that specifically concerns the tragic incident with the death of five people in Limassol.

Two weeks ago, another fire in Limassol broke out, claiming the lives a family of five. As of now, the cause remains unclear, however a defective television is suspected to have caused the fire.

Vafeadis on Wednesday announced that laboratory tests will be conducted abroad.

“Similar devices will be sent to specialised laboratories abroad, in order to determine whether the suspicions that currently exist about these products are well-founded or not,” he said at the meeting of the council of ministers at the presidential palace.