Two other people injured as gas canister explodes; police suspect suicide.
By JPOST.COM STAFFjp.services2(photo credit: )
A man and woman in their 50s were killed in a fire in a ground-floor apartment in Jerusalem overnight Sunday.
One of the fatalities was in the apartment in which the fire broke out, while a woman, who lived in the apartment above, died as a result of smoke inhalation.
The woman was later identified as 67-year-old Irit Igor.
Igor's husband was moderately injured and her daughter was injured lightly.
The cause of the fire, on Klausner Street in the Talpiot neighborhood, was under investigation.
Police found petrol on the clothes of the man who died as well as flammable material under his body, arousing their suspicions that he started the fire intentionally, in order to commit suicide.
A gas canister exploded in the building, but it was unclear if the blast was caused by the fire or vice versa.
Firefighters were called to the scene and managed to extinguish the blaze.
An eyewitness described to Channel 10 the "heavy black smoke" emanating from the building and "pieces of metal flying from the apartment." He also said that the firefighters "didn't demonstrate great efficiency."
