Student loses life in flat fire  

Firefighters tackling the blaze at the Dundee flat

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A 27-year-old Chinese student has died and two other people have been injured at a block of flats in Dundee city centre.
Tayside Police said the dead man was a student at the University of Abertay. Officers are contacting his family in China and he has not yet been named.

Firefighters were called to the scene in St Andrews Street just after 1000 BST on Thursday.

They used a ladder to remove two men and a woman from the first floor flat.

Emergency workers said the 27-year-old man died from his injuries at the scene.

The other man and a woman were taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where they were treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries.

  There was a lot of panic. I just wanted to get people out

Michael Sinclair
Eyewitness  

An eyewitness who tried to get into the flat said he was hampered by a metal grille and steel-enforced door.

Michael Sinclair, 27, who works in Roe-bucks barber shop close to the old-style tenement flats, said he raised the alarm when a customer told him about the fire.

He told the BBC Scotland news website: "I knocked on all the doors to make sure that everyone got out. But when I got to the flat affected there was a metal grille on the door. It was a steel enforced door so I couldn't get into the flat.

"I tried to kick the door as much as I could to awaken the people but as soon as I lifted the letter box smoke came pouring out.

"I gathered at that point that it was serious and there would be casualties.

"There was a lot of panic. I just wanted to get people out."

'Bolt cutters'

Another eyewitness, Graham Forbes, who owns the chip shop near the flats, said firefighters tried to use bolt cutters to get through the main entrance of the flat but the trapped residents had to be taken out through the window.

He said: "Someone told me there was a fire in the flats and when I went out it looked like it was just the curtains which had gone up.


A forensic investigation is being carried out

"Then the next thing it seemed to die out and I thought someone had put it out but then it came back up again.

"Bolt cutters were used on the door of the flat but when the fireman came out he said they were no use. He couldn't get the metal grille off."

The fire is believed to have broken out in the lounge of the flat and the dead man was found in the kitchen.

A spokesperson for Tayside Fire and Rescue Service said two adults, a man and a woman, were calling for help from a bedroom window at the front of the building and were rescued by firefighters via a ladder.

He said: "Breathing apparatus teams entered the building to tackle the fire and on reaching the flat they found a locked wrought iron gate over the external door.

"Using specialist hydraulic equipment crews gained entry to the premises within seven minutes of arrival.

Forensic teams

He said investigations were being carried but added it was not thought the locked wrought iron gate was "significant to the outcome of the incident".

Alongside the block of flats, several businesses, including a designer bridal shop, chip shop and newsagents, were evacuated.

A police forensic team has been carrying out investigations at the scene.

Det Insp Willie Semple, from Tayside Police, said it was too early to say whether there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire.

"We have a full search team and forensic team carrying out a detailed examination of the flat and the immediate surrounding area," he said.

"A full report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal in due course."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6730005.stm



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