Two men escaped with their lives after an inferno consumed an apartment in the early hours of Saturday.

The blaze ripped through the downstairs studio of a property in Sandys at 3 a.m., leaving a 21-year-old man with second-degree burns. Despite the pain from his injuries, Karl Deallie made it out of the property and then proceeded to rescue the 95-year-old resident of the upstairs apartment.

According to Mr. Deallie's mother, Wendy O'Connor, he was forced to break the glass door pane of the man's apartment, sustaining cuts to his feet in the rescue attempt. Last night the two-storey house in Somerset Road near Scaur Hill was in darkness, the downstairs apartment a gutted, blackened shell.

Investigators from the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service are currently determining the cause of the blaze, but have confirmed there were reports of an explosion.

Ms. O'Connor meanwhile yesterday expressed her relief at her son's escape.

It is understood Mr. Deallie, a painter, is a friend of the female tenant of the studio, who was not present at the time of the incident. Yesterday he was recuperating at home in Pembroke after being treated for his injuries at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The senior occupant of the upstairs apartment, Kenneth Young, was uninjured in the fire.

Ms O'Connor said last night: "Karl is OK but is having a hard time dealing with the whole thing. He gets quite emotional and upset about it all.

"He is not a hundred percent certain exactly what happened. He can't figure it out, but said he went upstairs and knocked on the gentleman's door to try to get him out, but had to break the glass. "He has some cuts to his feet, which are conducive with breaking the glass."

Ms O'Connor said her son suffered second-degree burns to his nose and forehead, plus burns to his shoulders and ears.

"I have a lot of mixed emotions at the moment," she said. "The outcome could have been very different. I think he was lucky, and feel very relieved."

Fire Service Divisional Officer, Lieutenant Dana Lovell, said ten firefighters from Port Royal and Hamilton attended the blaze, which took 40 minutes to extinguish.

"This was what we describe as a fully-involved fire, which means all the contents inside the structure were damaged," he said.

"It would be fair to say everything was destroyed in that apartment. There was a report of an explosion but we are not yet certain as to what caused it."

Brothers Stephen, Stewart and Andrew Card alerted the emergency services after hearing cries of pain from the neighbouring property.

Stephen Card, a 57-year-old artist, said: "We heard someone outside making a noise and went out to see the property was on fire.

"Huge flames were shooting out of the downstairs front door and the windows were all blown out. The flames must have reached 15 to 20 feet into the sky."

Mr. Card said: "Karl was complaining of pain in his ears and I got the impression there had been some sort of blast. He was very distressed and was lying on the ground in agony.

"We called the Police and Fire Brigade and tried to comfort him until the ambulance came.

"Kenneth was OK but upset. Karl had gone upstairs and had banged on the door to get him out. Kenneth certainly had a lucky escape."

Mr. Young is currently staying with family in Southampton.

His son Michael said last night: "He was a little shook-up yesterday but is doing OK now."