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Two rescued from flat after arson attack

BBC A grey end-terrace house with a boarded up door and windows. There is a grey fence in front of the house and a cloudy sky above. BBC
The incident happened at a flat in Princess Avenue, Cookstown

Two people had to be rescued after an overnight arson attack on a flat in Cookstown, County Tyrone, police have said.

A man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s were inside the property in Princess Avenue when an accelerant was poured through the letterbox on the front door and set alight on Sunday.

Firefighters removed the pair from the building and put out the blaze. Another fire at an outbuilding close to the property was also extinguished.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said crews rescued the woman from a window ledge using a ladder.

The front of the fire and smoke-damaged flat in Princess Avenue, Cookstown. The front door has been detached and is leaning at an angle inside the porch of the grey two-storey building. The glass in the door is smashed. The wall inside looks blackened with smoke and the porch side window is boarded up.
The fire started at the front door when an accelerant was poured through the letterbox

Thermal imaging was also used to search the flat for the man, who was eventually located in the kitchen.

The blaze was reported shortly after 00:50 BST on Sunday and crews were dispatched from Cookstown, Dungannon and Magherafelt.

"The male and female were treated at the scene by colleagues from Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, then taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation," said a police spokesperson.

"Enquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances and at this stage, the incident is being treated as deliberate ignition."

A concrete cream-coloured shed, with a burnt out window and door. There is a grey fence to the left of the shed and part of a grey house visible behind the fence. There are tall weeds growing in front of the shed. There is a cloudy sky above.
The blaze was reported shortly after 00:50 BST on Sunday

'People could have been dead'

The Social Democrat and Labour Party (SDLP) assembly member for Mid Ulster, Patsy McGlone, described the arson attack as "very vicious" and said it had to be "condemned outright".

"This could have gone very rapidly out of control and we could have been looking at a much worse situation," he said.

Speaking to BBC News NI, McGlone said there wasn't a racist element to this attack.

"I have spoken to police about this and they have ruled out that possibility."

He added that any house fire would leave people fearful: "Particularly when someone has gone out of their way to pour flammable liquid into a house and set it on fire, that is just beyond the realms of any credibility."

"People could have been dead," he added.

McGlone urged anyone involved to give themselves up and appealed for anyone who has information to contact the police.

Second arson attack

There was a separate arson attack in Beechfield Manor, Aghalee, in County Antrim.

Two vehicles were set alight and destroyed outside a property in the area sometime between 01:20 BST and 01:50.

A nearby property and garage were also damaged.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze.