Ravenshoe cafe explosion: Eighth person in critical condition in Brisbane hospital

Updated

Another person has been placed on the critical list in a Brisbane hospital after this week's cafe explosion at Ravenshoe in far north Queensland.

A Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) spokesperson confirmed on Saturday the person's condition had deteriorated from serious to critical.

A 48-year-old man injured in the blast has also been transported from Townsville Hospital to RBWH. He is in a stable condition.

Meanwhile, community members from the far northern town of Tully took a convoy of flowers to Ravenshoe on Saturday in a show of support.

A total of nine people are now being treated in Brisbane because of the severity of their burns.

They are five women aged 43, 51, 59, 75 and 82 and four men aged 48, 56, 59 and 69.

RBWH burns unit director Dr Michael Rudd said eight people remained critically ill in intensive care.

"It is one of those situations, burn disasters, where you have a large surge of activity in the beginning and then it goes on for six to eight weeks in terms of the extra operating that you have to do," he said.

"It's doing really a series of operations over several weeks to manage their wounds until they're completely closed.

"You might take 30 or 40 or 50 hours in the operating theatre on one case."

Dr Rudd said it was only when burns wounds were closed that they became confident a patient would survive.

"We're not completely confident until we've got their wounds 80 per cent closed, I'd say," he said.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: CCTV footage shows explosion at Ravenshoe cafe (ABC News)

"You can't survive without having all of your skin do what it's meant to do - protect the body from infection."

Queensland Health Minister Cameron Dick said he had made it clear he wanted families of burns victims supported and the patient transport subsidy scheme would be expanded to cover costs of family members across the state.

He said counsellors were also being arranged for the Ravenshoe community.

"This is a very significant and traumatic incident not just for the Ravenshoe community but for Queensland," he said.

"I've met with some of the families today and naturally they are deeply troubled by the impact on their family and their community, but they are very strong and courageous at this time and they amazed me with their strength.

"I can assure all of the families ... these patients are receiving some of the best treatment possible."

In all, 20 people were injured when a ute crashed into a gas bottle at a cafe in Ravenshoe on Tuesday, causing an explosion.

Cafe manager, Nicole Nyholt, a 37-year-old mother of two, died in Brisbane early on Friday as a result of her injuries.

Ms Nyholt, also known as Nicole Dempsey, had suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body.

The driver and sole occupant of the ute, Brian Scutt, 60, remains in hospital in Cairns.

He has been in a critical condition and induced coma with a broken spine and burns to his face, back and body.

Topics: fires, emergency-incidents, regional, road, ravenshoe-4872, cairns-4870

First posted