Six killed in restaurant when gas heater exploded just before closing

Six people died and eight were injured when a gas cylinder exploded at a restaurant in Czechia.

The U Kojota restaurant was about to close after Saturday night service when a propane-butane heater fell over and blew up in the northwest city of Most.

‘Flames were shooting out of the windows, and there were injured people on the street’, fire service spokesperson Petr Pelikus said. ‘The entire area was on fire.’

Surrounding apartment buildings were forced to evacuate and survivors were rescued from the blaze.

One of them was trapped in the restaurant’s toilet before firefighters got him out alive.

Around 20 guests had been inside the restaurant at the time. Six people died, while eight were injured.

They were in taken to hospital, in critical condition, where they underwent surgery. One remains in intensive care with moderately severe burns.

Marek Hrvol, mayor of Most, a city of 64,000 people 63 miles north of Prague, said: ‘For the city of Most, this is an enormously tragic event that will unfortunately go down in black history.

‘I can of course express my deep and sincere condolences to all the survivors, I am very sorry, and on the other hand I have to thank all the rescue services, because I was directly involved in the intervention at night and I have to say that it was excellently coordinated.

‘Everyone did everything to save as many lives as possible.’

It took around 60 firefighters more than an hour to get the fire under control by 1am.

A fire service spokesperson said: ‘According to preliminary information, which is testimony directly from the scene, the fire actually started in an annex that served as a kind of garden restaurant.

‘The fire spread into the building, but we managed to stop it from spreading there.’

Prime Minister Petr Fiala said: ‘A great tragedy in Most. In this difficult moment, I would like to express my sincere condolences to all the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones.

‘I wish a speedy recovery to all those injured. I thank the rescue workers, firefighters and police officers for their dedicated work at the scene of this unfortunate incident.’

Police are working to identify the victims and are investigating the cause of the incident.

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