Elderly foreign couple perish in house fire

Two elderly people died yesterday when fire swept through their home in Ca's Catala in Calvia. The home of 74-year-old Swiss woman Nanci Dorothy H. and her 60-year-old Greek husband Theodore Alan B was struck by the blaze at 10.am and, while police have to wait for the results of the autopsy before confirming the exact cause of the deaths and the blaze, sources suggested yesterday that the fire may have been caused by a cigar or cigarette and that the couple either died from asphyxiation or burns. Sources for Calvia Council said yesterday that the couple had great difficulties in getting about and problems with alcoholism, for which the local social services had been treating the couple for quite some time. It was also revealed yesterday that attempts by social services had been made on a number of occasions to persuade the couple to move into a residential care home, but the two refused to be moved. While yesterday's fatal fire has shocked the neighbourhood around calle Capdella where the couple had lived for the past 30 years and had many friends, the social worker caring for the couple was in a severe state of shock. She had arrived at the house at 7am, making the first of her daily visits to help the couple get out of bed and dressed and left an hour later to run some errands for the couple.