House explosion likely caused by drugs - police

Two men badly injured in explosion at a Northland home may have been making cannabis oil when the chemicals used in the process blew up, say police.

Two men, aged 19 and 20, were flown to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital with serious burns after an explosion at a house in Kaiwaka, about 60km south of Whangarei, last Thursday.

The men were still in Middlemore Hospital's burns unit and were understood to have burns to their faces, arms, torso and legs.

Ruakaka police Sergeant Ken Andrews told The Northern Advocate it appeared the men were trying to make cannabis oil in the house at the time of the explosion.

The explosion showed how dangerous volatile chemicals used to make cannabis oil were.

He said police had still to speak to the two men.

- NZPA