A 44-year-old man was found dead on Sunday morning in a basement area of a restaurant in the Pissouri area, while a 32-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with serious breathing problems, police said.
The 59-year-old owner of the restaurant contacted police at about 9.45 am after finding his 44-year-old foreign employee and an unknown woman unconscious in the basement space, which the man was using as a home.
An officer and members of Paphos CID and Kouklia police station went to the scene, along with an ambulance. Police established that the 44-year-old was dead, while the woman, later identified as a 32-year-old compatriot of his who works as a domestic helper in a village in the Paphos district, was taken to Paphos General Hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit with serious respiratory problems.
Police found a rectangular metal container with burning charcoal inside the room where the two were discovered. It appears they had used it for heating, and fumes from it caused the 44-year-old’s death.
The exact cause of death will be determined after the lawful post-mortem examination.