Gardaí are awaiting the results of a postmortem today on the body of a 34-year-old man who died in a house fire in Mallow, north Cork.
Gardaí believe the death of Terry Fitzgerald at an apartment at The Towers, Fairgreen, in Mallow, was accidental but are awaiting the results of a post-mortem today which they expect will confirm there was nothing suspicious about his death.
It is believed that the fire may have been started accidentally when a lighted cigarette fell and started a fire in a bedroom in the second-floor apartment while Mr Fitzgerald and his partner were in bed about 11.45pm on Wednesday.
Mr Fitzgerald's partner managed to make it out of the bedroom and was rescued by neighbours. She was brought to Mallow General Hospital where her condition was yesterday described as "stable".
Initial attempts to reach Mr Fitzgerald failed because of the dense smoke but firefighters using breathing apparatus managed to find him and remove him from the building.
Firefighters tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him and he was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was later removed to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem will be carried out today.
The assistant fire chief for the north Cork division, Eoin O'Donnell, said firefighters managed to retrieve Mr Fitzgerald within minutes of their arrival and they later spent approximately 30 minutes bringing the fire under control.
