Two separate inquiries were under way in Cork yesterday following the death of a nine-year-old boy in a accident while playing on a building site near his home.
Stephen Long, of Maryborough Hill, Cork, was severely burned when a canister containing wood preservative caught fire as he was playing with friends on a building site at Mount Oval, near his home.
It appears the boys had started the fire and that a stone was thrown at the canister, piercing it and pushing it into the flames where it exploded.
Stephen Long was severely burned, and the alarm was raised when neighbours heard his playmates scream.
He was taken to Cork University Hospital where he remained overnight in a critical but stable condition. However he died at 7 a.m. yesterday.
The Health and Safety Authority was carrying out an examination of the building site yesterday where O'Flynn Construction is building a huge residential estate.
In a separate inquiry, Garda forensic experts were also at the scene in an effort to establish how the canister containing the wood preservative came to be there.