20/08/2007

Newquay Hotel Fire Two Missing

The search for two people missing after fire ripped through a Cornwall hotel has been delayed.

Screens will be erected on scaffolding as the shell of the hotel is searched for clues to the missing persons and the cause of the fire.

The blaze tore through the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay Cornwall just after midnight on Saturday.

Firefighters, hampered by the lack of a serviceable turntable, evacuated 72 people from the hotel. A turntable had to be requested from Plymouth, 50 miles distant, as both Cornwall units were under repair.

Four people were hospitalised by the fire. Three are in a stable condition, though one person's condition is described as stable but critical.

Police say that it may be tomorrow morning before the shell of the hotel is reduced to a safe height for a search of the rubble to begin.

(SP)

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