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Students forced to clamber on to roof to escape fire in Dundee flats

The aerial platform plucking residents to safety.
The aerial platform plucking residents to safety.

A Dundee University student has spoken of his terror as he was trapped in his bedroom on the top floor of a burning building.

Chris Idu, 25, found himself battling for air as smoke from the blaze filled his room on the fifth floor of the St Andrews Street tenement on Thursday night.

To breathe, he hung out of the window until firefighters were able to lead him to safety.

Three other residents of the block clambered on to the roof to escape the fire and had to be lifted to safety by firefighters using an aerial ladder.

Chris, 25, said: “I saw smoke coming through the front door and when I opened it there was too much smoke to get out. I closed the bedroom door and smoke started coming under that too.

“I was hanging out of the window with a curtain round my head because the smoke was so thick.”

Chris, from Nigeria, arrived in Dundee in September to study for a Masters in international law and security at Dundee University.

He said: “Earlier today I spoke to my landlord saying I was going to move out. When I moved in I asked what I was to do in a fire because it is so high up.”

Robert Gallacher, 25, was in his flat with a friend and his brother-in-law when the blaze took hold in the common close of their block of flats.

They climbed on to the roof to escape but Robert admitted: “One wrong slip and we could have been dead.”

Fire crews were called to the building at 9.38pm on Thursday when a fire was discovered in the close on the ground floor.

Firefighters put out the flames using two hosereels and a jet hosereel.

There was fire and smoke damage to the stairwell, electrics and lighting so the stairwell is now almost completely dark.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Dundee Scottish Fire and Rescue station manager Craig Thomson said: “We don’t believe this fire was started deliberately but caused by the careless disposal of a cigarette.

“It is important to ensure smoking materials are properly extinguished before leaving the area, particularly if there are combustible materials nearby.

“We would urge people not to leave rubbish or bins in common stairwells of tenement blocks. It can be very attractive to fire setters and increases the risk of a fire. Discarded items of furniture and rubbish can produce large amounts of toxic smoke and also impede access for emergency responders.”