British man blown out of Spanish apartment after using bug spray

A British man is lucky to be alive after an explosion in his second floor flat in Spain catapulted him through the wall and 20m onto the pavement below.

Daran Cooper, 48, was cooking dinner in the kitchen of his apartment in Torrevieja, Spain, while his partner Carmen was trying to kill a cockroach with an insecticide spray.

She passed the can to Daran as the pest flew towards their washing machine.

Speaking to Rex Features, Daran explained what happened next: "I started spraying at the cockroach, and some of the gas must have got into the washing machine. A moment later, there was the click of the wash cycle, followed by an almighty bang as I flew through where the wall used to be!

"There was glass and all kinds of stuff in the air, but miraculously I stayed conscious all the time and all I could think of was that I had to protect my head".

Carmen escaped unscathed while their five-year-old son Sebastian remained safely tucked up in bed.

Daran plummeted to the pavement just next to a parked car.

He says: "I'm just glad to be alive. If I'd lost consciousness, I would have died.

"I made sure that my arms and hands took the brunt of the fall, and by sheer luck I was wearing Superman underpants at the time!"

His main injury was a bone protruding through his elbow, which needed to be operated on.

Daran also suffered a broken wrist, general bruising and he needed some head stitches.

Forensic experts have been at the scene, but so far there has been no official explanation as to what caused the explosion.

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