A mother and her two young children had a narrow escape after a fire in their house at Ballynanty Beg, Limerick.
Mrs Eileen Wallace (3 2) and her two children, Stacy (7) and Alan (2), were in bed when there was a loud explosion downstairs at 1 a.m. The fire brigade confined the blaze to the downstairs area. Gardai said they were treating the matter as "suspicious".