Restaurant explodes in bid to kill cockroaches

An overzealous attempt to rid a Thai restaurant of cockroaches sparked an explosion that blew up the restaurant in Perth, Western Australia, apart, emergency services said today.

Three men were taken to hospital with burns after they set off 36 cockroach fumigation devices known as bombs – generally aerosol cans filled with chemicals - which apparently exploded after their contents came into contact with an oven pilot light.