A Coroner has called for a ban on old-fashioned chip pans with wire baskets following the accidental death of two men in a house fire in Co Cork last year.

South Cork Coroner Frank O'Connell said they have been responsible for the deaths of four people in his area in the past five years and anyone who has one should bin it immediately.

Mr O'Connell made his comment following an inquest into the deaths of 26-year-old Kenny Relihan and 64-year-old Noel O'Mahony.

The pair died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a chip pan caught fire in the kitchen of a house at St Colman's Park in Macroom on 2 May 2016.

Mr Relihan's mother, Noreen McAuliffe, jumped from an upstairs window and survived the fire.

Mr O'Connell said he was not underestimating the role of alcohol in this case - that it affected the men's ability to escape - but said old-fashioned chip pans with wire baskets have been the cause of many deaths and should be banned.

He said there is no excuse for people using these as there are thermostatically-controlled, reasonably-priced chip pans available.

He said he would be writing to the Director of Consumer Affairs asking for the old-fashioned ones to be removed from general sale.

The inquest, which resumed today after eight witnesses failed to turned up to an earlier hearing, returned a verdict of accidental death in both cases

Mr. O'Connell praised the actions of the neighbours in St Colman's Park on the night.

In particular he said Ryan Manning and Tim Coleman, who were first on the scene, made heroic efforts to save the men.