Four girls hurt in fire improving

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The condition of four schoolgirls lucky to be alive after a house explosion and fire two weeks ago is getting better.

Anya Evans, 15, her sister Kira, 14, and friends Kimberly Patterson, 15, and Nadine Fardon, 14, were badly injured on 17 December.

The managed to escape from the sisters' home in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, but were left on life support machines with burns ranging from 41% to 29%.

Swansea NHS Trust said they were still critical, but improving.

'Overwhelmed' by support

An appeal was later launched to help the Evans family who were said to have "lost everything" in the blaze.

House-to-house collections were held in the streets around their home in Old Castle Road.

Flames and smoke pour from the roof at the height of the blazeTheir families said they had been "overwhelmed" by the public response and had "drawn strength" from knowing so many people had been thinking about the girls.

An investigation by the police and fire brigade was launched to try to discover the cause of the blaze in a rear first-floor bedroom, which was not treated as suspicious.

Investigators said a "significant gas explosion" had destroyed the upper floor and roof of the terraced house.

But fire chiefs dismissed speculation that gas hair straighteners or curling tongs could have been the cause.

Earlier this month, doctors said at least one of the teenagers, and probably more, would remain in Morriston Hospital, Swansea, for some time and they would require extensive surgery.