Lovers blow themselves up in apparent suicide pact

A woman and her lover blew themselves up early yesterday in an apparent suicide pact.

The man had told his wife he was going to commit suicide and she had tried to find him in time to stop him taking his life, police said.

Firemen called to a Hunghom flat at 3.30am by neighbours woken by the sound of the blast found a 37-year-old woman unconscious on a bed with serious burns to her upper body.

She was certified dead at the scene. Her 50-year-old lover was found sitting unconscious beside the bed with burns to 90 per cent of his body.

He was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he died at 6pm.

The man, a clerical worker, had telephoned his wife, 41, an hour before the incident in Chatham Road North.