A MAN suffered severe burns in an explosion which destroyed his caravan at a riverside site.
The blast ripped through the caravan on the Finchale Abbey site, near Durham, shortly after 9.30am yesterday.
Firefighters were called out to extinguish the blaze. The 27-year-old victim, who has not been named, was rescued unconscious from the caravan. He was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham suffering 40 per cent burns to his head and body.
Inspector Dave Marshall, of Durham and Chester-le-Street police sub-division, said the blast appears to have been the result of gas, which leaked from a bottle overnight, igniting when the man woke and lit a cigarette.
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